Effects of high-fidelity patient simulation on nursing students' resuscitation-specific self-efficacy

The purpose of this study was to assess the difference in measures of pretest and posttest self-efficacy following simulation-based training and to compare differences in self-efficacy between nursing students exposed to medium- or high-fidelity patient simulations. This study used a nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design. A convenience sample of 163 second-year nursing students was assigned to either the high-fidelity patient simulation group (n = 28) or medium-fidelity simulation group (n = 135). Resuscitation-specific self-efficacy was measured at pretest and posttest. The overall mean self-efficacy score was higher at posttest compared with pretest in both the high-fidelity group (t = 9.327, P < .001) and medium-fidelity group (t = 6.568, P < .001). Nursing students exposed to high-fidelity patient simulation reported significantly higher scores on a debriefing and recording subscale (t = 5.578, P < .001), responding and rescuing subscale (t = 5.811, P < .001), reporting subscale (t = 3.441, P = .001), and overall scale score (t = 4.737, P < .001) compared with the medium-fidelity simulation group. Simulation-based training has a positive impact on improving self-efficacy. Additional high-fidelity simulation is more effective than medium-fidelity simulation only in improving nursing students' self-efficacy. There is a need to boost the self-efficacy of the students through mastery experiences in their learning curriculum.