Evidence of clinical competence by simulation, a hermeneutical observational study

Making the transition from theory to practise easier in nursing education through simulation is widely implemented all over the world, and there is research evidence of the positive effects of simulation. The pre-understanding for this study is based on a definition of clinical competence as encountering, knowing, performing, maturing and developing, and the hypothesis is that these categories should appear in simulated situations. The aim of the study was to explore the forms and expressions of clinical competence in simulated situations and furthermore to explore if and how clinical competence could be developed by simulation. An observational hermeneutic study with a hypothetic-deductive approach was used in 18 simulated situations with 39 bachelor degree nursing students. In the situations, the scenarios, the actors and the plots were described. The story told was "the way from suffering to health" in which three main plots emerged. The first was, doing as performing and knowing, which took the shape of knowing what to do, acting responsibly, using evidence and equipment, appearing confident and feeling comfortable, and sharing work and information with others. The second was, being as encountering the patient, which took the shape of being there for him/her and confirming by listening and answering. The third plot was becoming as maturing and developing which took the shape of learning in co-operation with other students. All the deductive categories, shapes and expressions appeared as dialectic patterns having their negative counterparts. The study showed that clinical competence can be made evident and developed by simulation and that the challenge is in encountering the patient and his/her suffering.