Nurse-midwifery students’ experiences in high-fidelity simulation: a focus group study

Introduction: Active teaching methodologies, particularly those using high-fidelity simulation, stand out in nursing education for their ability to facilitate the development of students' technical-scientific and non-technical skills, as well as prepare them for clinical practice. High-fidelity simulation using realistic models is an effective tool for improving students' communication skills, leadership and critical thinking. This study aims to explore nurse-midwifery students’ learning experiences in high-fidelity simulation.Methods: Explorative qualitative study using two focus groups interviews with nurse-midwifery students at the Higher School of Nursing. Qualitative data were analyzed using content analysis. Results: Two main themes emerged from content analysis: (i) Simulation-based learning and (ii) Simulation-based teaching. The first theme includes three categories: development of technical-scientific skills, development of non-technical skills, and preparation for internship. The second theme also includes three categories: enhancing theoretical knowledge, facilitating teaching, and post-scenario discussion (debriefing). Conclusions: The use of high-fidelity simulation as a teaching strategy in the training of nurse-midwifery students contributed to the development of technical and non-technical skills essential to nursing practice