Standardized patient simulation in nursing education: A bibliometric analysis and visualization from 2002 to 2024

This study employed a bibliometric analysis to examine the existing literature on the use of standardised patient simulation in nursing education.

SP simulation offers students the opportunity to directly interact with a range of nursing interventions and practices. It demonstrates that SP simulation can be used as an active learning methodology in nursing education.

Bibliometric and content analysis.

The data set was obtained from the Web of Science database. The sample comprised 310 publications that fulfilled the a priori defined inclusion criteria. The data were subjected to both descriptive content analysis and bibliometric analysis. A bibliometric analysis was conducted using VOSviewer, a software program designed for the mapping and visualisation of bibliometric data.

A total of 198 publications were published in 2002-2024. The publications had 3042 citations. Nurse Education Today has the highest number of publications and citations. In terms of authors, Elcin was the author with the highest number of citations (n = 186). In accordance with the findings of the trend topic analysis, the keywords 'simulation', 'nursing education', 'standardised patient' and 'nursing students' emerged in the field.

The number of studies examining the efficacy of using standard patient simulators in nursing education has seen a notable increase in recent years. The findings of this study may offer researchers and nursing faculties new insights into the value of incorporating standardised patient simulation into nursing education, as well as potential applications of such an approach.