Beginning and advanced students' perceptions of the use of low- and high-fidelity mannequins in nursing simulation

There is little research evidence that demonstrates the difference between the use of low- and high-fidelity mannequins in assisting students to acquire their skills when students are at different points in their nursing education experience.

Our study examined differences between the use of low- and high-fidelity mannequins on student outcomes with both beginner and advanced students.

A quasi-experimental investigation.

Participants performed two simulations, one simulation using a low-fidelity mannequin and the other simulation using a high-fidelity mannequin.

First and fourth semester pre-licensure students from a Bachelor of Science in Nursing program and an accelerated nursing entry program participated in this study.

A Students' Satisfaction and Self-confidence Scale and Simulation Design Scale were used to obtain data. Statistical analysis was performed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences for Windows version 17.0. The results obtained from scales were compared using Wilcoxon sign test and Mann-Whitney U test. A p value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant.

The student satisfaction score of the students in the low-fidelity mannequin group was 3.62±1.01, while that of the students in the high-fidelity mannequin group was 4.67±0.44'dir (p=0.01). The total score of the simulation design scale in the low-fidelity mannequin group was 4.15±0.63, while it was 4.73±0.33 in the high-fidelity mannequin group (p=0.01).

Students' perceptions of simulation experiences using high-fidelity mannequins were found to be higher in contrast to their perceptions of experiences using low-fidelity mannequins.