Evaluation of a cardiac arrest simulation.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Simulation in Healthcare
• Nursing Education

Background:

• Simulation is crucial for healthcare training, but its stress-eliciting capacity must be validated.
• Assessing if simulations mirror real-life stress responses is essential before educational or research use.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the stress-eliciting capacity of two distinct simulated cardiac arrest scenarios.
• To determine if simulated cardiac arrest effectively induces physiological and psychological stress in nursing students.

Main Methods:

• Twenty-seven senior baccalaureate nursing students participated, randomly assigned to interpersonal or environmental stressor simulations.
• Physiological measures (pulse, blood pressure) and self-reported anxiety (State Trait Anxiety Inventory) were recorded pre- and post-simulation.
• Performance on cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and a medication memory task was assessed.

Main Results:

• Significant increases in pulse rate, systolic blood pressure, and self-reported anxiety were observed post-simulation.
• No significant changes were found in diastolic blood pressure.
• Performance on CPR and medication memory tasks fell below expected standards.

Conclusions:

• The simulated cardiac arrest effectively increased physiological stress and anxiety in nursing students.
• Suboptimal task performance suggests limitations in the current simulation's ability to fully replicate real-world critical care scenarios.
• Further refinement of simulation design is needed to enhance its educational and research validity.