The effect of simulation practice using standardized patients on communication skills, empathy, learning immersion, and learning satisfaction

Objectives This study was conducted to determine the effects of simulation practice using standardized patients on communication skills, empathy, learning immersion, and learning satisfaction of nursing students. Methods The subjects of the study were 46 third-year nursing students at U University located in G City. Simulation practice using standardized patients was conducted for a total of 10 hours, and data collection was from April 26 to June 18, 2021. It was a single-group before/after design experimental study, and data analysis was performed using SPSS 22.0 program using descriptive statistics, shapiro-Wilk, and paired t-tests. Results There were statistically significant difference in empathy (t=-2.42, p=.018) and learning immersion (t=-2.77, p=.007) before and after simulation practice using standardized patients, and and learning satisfaction after practice. appeared high at 4.74±0.44 points. On the other hand, communication skills (t=-1.71, p=.091) improved, but there was no statistically significant difference. Conclusions Simulation practice using standardized patients is necessary to perform human-centered nursing and improve the quality of nursing by communicating sensitively to the patient's emotions and health problems and quickly recognizing the patient's needs to solve health problems. It helped improve empathy and communication skills. In addition, through realistic clinical situation reproduction, nursing students' active participation in simulation practice improved their learning immersion and learning satisfaction. Therefore, it is considered an effective educational method for improving integrated nursing competencies required in clinical settings, and there is a need to continue to confirm its effectiveness through follow-up research.