A new pedagogical approach to enhance palliative care and communication learning: A mixed method study

As palliative care increases in importance due to chronic illnesses in ageing populations, there is a need to develop primary palliative care, including patient-centred communication for nursing graduates. Simulation-based education was adopted to develop students clinical skills and communication in a safer and more controlled environment prior to their clinical practice. However curricula in palliative care and communication remain limited. The current study was to develop a simulation-based programme with clinical modelling prior to the simulation experience. Authentic case scenarios were also constructed through collaboration between the researchers and clinical colleagues in palliative care.

To explore the effects of palliative care simulation-based experience on nursing students' palliative care and caring communication.

Mixed-methods with pre- and post-questionnaires and focus groups after the simulation-based experience.

A nursing school at a university in Hong Kong.

Twenty-nine senior-year undergraduate nursing students.

Students shadowed senior nurses in a palliative clinical setting, then engaged in simulation learning with two palliative scenarios in a laboratory environment. Focus group debriefings were conducted after the simulations.

Quantitatively, findings from the pre- and post-questionnaires revealed an improvement in the students' knowledge (t = -2.83, p = 0.02), attitudes (t = -4.21, p = 0.00), and efficacy (t = -2.07, p = 0.05) in palliative care after participating in this study. Results from the focus groups also indicated an enhancement in the students' learning of palliative care and communication.

This collaborative design of palliative scenarios and clinical shallowing with senior nurses in a palliative care setting followed by simulation enhanced the students' confidence, knowledge, skills, and attitudes in palliative care and communication.