Face-to-Face and blended methods to improve oral competence in nursing students through simulation

Communication and interpersonal skills are relevant to the health professions, so it is important to promote these competencies at university. This research assesses the effectiveness of teaching oral competence through simulation using face-to-face and blended methods. A public speaking workshop was conducted in a group of 144 first year nursing students. Three groups were obtained according to the teaching method (Group 1: traditional method-3 sessions, Group 2: traditional method-2 sessions, Group 3: blended method-2 sessions). Public speaking confidence was measured at the beginning and end of the training, and oral competence was assessed at the end. As a result, all groups achieved a good level of oral competence after the training. However, while students in Group 1 showed greater oral competence, with regard to confidence in public speaking, students in Group 1 showed significantly worst results than those in Group 3. We concluded that simulation is a useful strategy to improve cognitive learning, and behavioural and practical competencies such as public speaking. As for the teaching method, although blended learning did not offer better results than traditional learning, it seems useful provide there is at least one face-to-face session so that the student can perform a speech and receive corrective feedback.