Teaching Nursing Leadership: Comparison of Simulation versus Traditional Inpatient Clinical

Nurse educators claim accountability to ensure their students are prepared to assume leadership responsibilities upon graduation. Although front-line nurse leaders and nurse executives feel new graduates are not adequately prepared to take on basic leadership roles, professional nursing organizations such as the American Nurses Association (ANA) and the Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) deem leadership skills are core competencies of new graduate nurses. This study includes comparison of a leadership-focused multi-patient simulation and the traditional leadership clinical experiences in a baccalaureate nursing leadership course. The results of this research show both environments contribute to student learning. There was no statistical difference in the overall score. Students perceived a statistically significant difference in communication with patients in the traditional inpatient environment. However, the students perceived a statistical significant difference in teaching-learning dyad toward simulation.