Standardised patient-simulated practice learning: A rich pedagogical environment for psychiatric nursing education

Abstract

Background. Nursing education needs to adapt to be relevant to student nurses' learning needs. This study investigates the use of standardised patients (SPs) in a simulated patient interview as a learning strategy to bridge the theory-practice gap. Simulation helps students to develop skills such as communication, higher cognitive thinking, decision-making and problem-solving. There is evidence to support the use of SP case scenarios to enable students to develop their clinical and interpersonal skills in a controlled environment before encountering patients in a clinical setting. Objective. To explore and describe students' experiences of the developed SP scenario for the mental health nursing interview. Methods. A qualitative approach was taken and data were gathered using structured open-ended questions to gather information from 33 undergraduate nursing students after they encountered the SP simulation. Participants' responses were thematically analysed. Results. Nursing students experienced the simulation as challenging, but felt that being able to practise their skills within a safe simulated environment built confidence. They indicated that the experience was not only enjoyable, but that it helped them to integrate theory with practice, develop communication skills and feel professional. Conclusion. SP-simulated practice combined with classroom teaching is important in improving nurses' professed ability to respond to patients' needs. Nursing students need to be interpersonally competent before engaging with mental health users. SP-simulated learning helps student nurses to participate actively in a positive learning process; they then begin to understand the need for linking theory with practice.

Exploring pedagogies used in undergraduate mental health nursing curriculum: An Integrative Literature Review

“…The strategy not only introduces realism into the classroom by replicating clinical scenarios, but also enhances the students’ confidence when interacting with PMHCs (Lehr and Kaplan, 2013). This immersive experience provides an opportunity for the students to practise their mental health assessment and therapeutic communication skills (Doolen et al, 2014, Jacobs and Venter, 2017) in a safe learning environment without having to face consequences of mistakes (Alexander and Dearsley, 2013, Goh et al, 2016, Kidd et al, 2012). Debriefing sessions after the simulations also allow them to receive immediate feedback from their educators and the standardized patients.…”

“…Debriefing sessions after the simulations also allow them to receive immediate feedback from their educators and the standardized patients. This encourages the students to reflect on their performance, thus promoting critical thinking and an integration of theory and practice (Lehr and Kaplan, 2013, Doolen et al, 2014, Goh et al, 2016, Jacobs and Venter, 2017, Witt et al, 2018, Jack et al, 2014, Alexander and Dearsley, 2013).…”

“…As an important component within undergraduate nursing curricula, the aim of mental health nursing education is to effectively prepare undergraduates for future clinical environments upon graduation (Leidl, 2015, Karimollahi, 2012, Maddineshat et al, 2018). In addition to imparting information, the pedagogy must focus on not only developing and strengthening the students’ emotional capacity (Stuhlmiller, 2016), but also linking theory to practice and fostering critical thinking among them (Jacobs and Venter, 2017). The challenges faced by nursing faculties today are thus twofold: to impart up‐to‐date information in mental health nursing and to be innovative and responsive to the needs of the population and individuals (Morton and Rylance, 2019, Moxham et al, 2011).…”

Nursing Students' Learning Dynamics and Perception of High-Fidelity Simulation-Based Learning

“…Australia (Nash & Harvey, 2017), South Korea (Kim & Kim, 2017) and the United States (Miles, 2018). SBL provides opportunities for nursing students to have direct and repeated experiences of nursing practice in a safe and supportive environment, where the students can learn from their mistakes and gain support from their peers and lecturers (Cant & Cooper, 2017;Jacobs & Venter, 2017;Ramm, Thomson, & Jackson, 2015).…”

Strengthening health professions education and training: The power of evidence-based approaches

“…For example, the article by Westmore land et al [7] examines the improvement of the learning environment and wellness of trainee regis trars to prevent burnout and exhaustion, while Urimubenshi et al [8] explore solutions from students' perceptions on how to improve their learning environment. The article by Jacobs and Venter [9] speaks to improving the clinical learning environment using standardised patient simulation. Dlungwane et al [10] and Idon et al [11] explore means of improving the learning environment of postgraduate trainees.…”