Efficacy of a Simulation Program to Improve Clinical Judgment and Clinical Competence Among Graduate Nurses

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Healthcare Simulation

Background:

• New-to-practice nurses often exhibit underdeveloped clinical judgment and competence.
• Simulation-based training is a potential strategy to address these skill gaps.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the feasibility and efficacy of a four-scenario simulation program.
• To improve clinical judgment and clinical competence in graduate nurses.

Main Methods:

• A two-group feasibility study comparing an intervention group (n=17) with a control group (n=26).
• Clinical judgment was measured at two time points in the practice setting.

Main Results:

• The simulation program demonstrated a large effect on the intervention group's clinical judgment (η2 = .143) and clinical competence (η2 = .153).
• No statistically significant differences were found between baseline and final scenario measurements within the intervention group.
• No significant differences in clinical judgment were observed between the intervention and control groups at any measurement time.

Conclusions:

• The simulation program shows promise for enhancing graduate nurses' skills.
• Further investigation using a randomized controlled trial with a larger sample size is warranted to validate these preliminary findings.