Simulation Training Needs of Nurses for Nursing High-Risk Premature Infants: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Opportunities fomr clinical training in the newborn nursery and neonatal intensive care units (NICU) are becoming insufficient and limited to observation-oriented training. Premature infants admitted to the NICU require specialized and highly sophisticated care. Therefore, this descriptive cross-sectional study aimed to understand nurses’ educational needs for establishing a high-risk premature infant nursing simulation training program. It used a descriptive cross-sectional design. We conducted a survey involving 99 newborn nursery and NICU nurses; data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, a paired t-test, an Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA), a Borich needs analysis, and the locus for focus to confirm educational priorities. The scores indicating the importance of nursing high-risk premature infants were higher than those of performance. Results indicated that the highest educational need was in the “treatment and procedure” domain. After deriving the priority of educational needs using the Borich needs analysis and the locus for focus, “maintenance of various tubes” showed the highest priority. By identifying the training priorities for high-risk premature infants nursing using various analytical frameworks, an extended reality simulation program met nurses’ high-risk premature infant nursing educational needs. Training for high-risk premature infants treatment and procedures—maintaining various tubes—is highly demanded by nurses and should be prioritized.