What do I take home after the simulation? The importance of emergent learning outcomes in clinical simulation

Clinical simulation learning includes a debriefing after the simulated experience. Debriefing consists of several stages. In this work we focus on the last stage (summary or transfer phase), in which the participants present the most relevant of what they learned during the session.

To analyze the perception of 4th year Nursing Degree students on the most significant aspects they learned during the simulation sessions.

A qualitative, cross-sectional and descriptive study was conducted, with students in their last year of the Nursing Degree at the Catholic University of Murcia. The opinions of 67 students from 5 groups, on the debriefing phase, were analyzed, by comparing them with the objectives that were initially proposed during the design of the scenarios used in the simulations.

A total of 78 clinical scenarios were analyzed, with 292 pre-established learning objectives, on a total sample of 67 students. The participants provided a total of 464 learning outcomes that were significant for them, of which 101 coincided with those that were initially planned (21.8%), while the rest, 363 (78.2%), were considered emergent (not planned a priori). For the most part, the learning outcomes described by the students were technical knowledge and/or skills (70.5%), as compared to non-technical knowledge and/or skills (29.5%).

For the most part, the learning outcomes considered by the students to be significant did not correspond with the objectives set a priori in the design of the scenarios. Most were emergent elements, especially those that referred to the technical knowledge and skills. The emergent knowledge must be considered crucial by the educators for the teaching and training of students.