Interprofessional simulation-based learning used to prepare perioperative nursing students for acute situations

Background: Perioperative nursing focuses on care for patients with life-threatening crisis, illness or injury undergoing planned or acute surgery, treatment and/or examination. Performing care requires advanced knowledge and skills to ensure safe outcomes for surgical patients. Perioperative nurses work in interprofessional surgical teams and must develop team skills, such as communication and interprofessional collaboration, as teamwork is an essential component of patient safety. Therefore, perioperative nurses need a distinct form of higher education that builds a close relationship between higher education, science and the profession’s occupational field. Interprofessional simulation-based learning is a pedagogical approach that integrates learning as a task performance, communication technique and collaboration. It involves higher-level learning, such as analysis and problem-solving in problematic scenarios or care settings. Although interprofessional simulation-based learning is an often-used pedagogical approach in nursing programmes, it still seems under-researched and under-theorised, especially in educating perioperative nurses. Therefore, there appears to be a need for explorative research on arranging interprofessional simulation-based learning to facilitate perioperative nursing students’ learning, create good learning processes and obtain attended learning outcomes. Furthermore, there is a need for more in-depth knowledge about the learning processes in interprofessional simulation-based learning. There also seems to be scarce knowledge concerning students’ transfer of professional competence to clinical practice and how interprofessional simulation-based learning influences future practice. Aim: The overarching aim of this PhD thesis is to gain knowledge and insight into perioperative nursing students’ learning and development of professional competence using interprofessional simulation-based learning as a pedagogical approach. Conclusion: Interprofessional simulation-based learning is an essential pedagogical approach in perioperative nursing education, as it develops professional competence and self-efficacy in meeting acute clinical situations. It is vital to use effective pedagogical approaches to build competencies that are transferable to clinical practice and to improve perioperative nurses’ performance as recent graduates. Therefore, it is crucial to implement interprofessional simulation-based learning in perioperative nursing education.publishedVersio

Use of interprofessional simulation-based learning to develop perioperative nursing students' self-efficacy in responding to acute situations

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Professional competence development through interprofessional simulation-based learning assists perioperative nurses in postgraduation acute clinical practice situations: A qualitative study

Aims and objectives: To explore recently graduated perioperative nurses' experiences of interprofessional simulation-based learning during postgraduate education and investigate whether and how this learning approach contributed to the development of their professional competence in meeting acute clinical situations. Background: Perioperative nursing requires specialised education that offers professional development to ensure high-quality nursing care and patient safety in acute situations. Interprofessional simulation-based learning exposes students to acute situations in a safe environment without the risk of harming the patient, and it prepares postgraduate nursing students for clinical practice. Despite extensive research regarding simulation-based learning, there is a lack of knowledge on what impact such training has on perioperative nursing students after graduation. Design: An explorative qualitative design was used, and this study is reported in accordance with the COREQ guidelines. Method: Between March 2019–November 2020, 16 perioperative nurses participated in semi-structured individual interviews three to five months after their graduation from five different educational institutions. During their postgraduate education, they had participated in interprofessional simulation-based learning that included acute clinical situations. A phenomenological hermeneutical analysis was applied to the data involving three steps: naïve reading, structural analysis and comprehensive understanding. Results: During the naïve reading, three themes emerged: competence in handling acute situations, competence in interprofessional teamwork and professional identity development. Conclusion: Interprofessional simulation-based learning in perioperative nursing education developed relevant and important competence, including professional identity development, among perioperative nursing students. As recent graduates, their professional competence was transferred to clinical practice and developed further. Relevance to clinical practice: Findings indicate that interprofessional simulation-based learning is an important educational approach in perioperative nursing education. It is essential to use effective learning approaches to develop competencies that are transferable to clinical practice and improve perioperative nurses' performance as recent graduates. Therefore, interprofessional simulation-based learning should be implemented into perioperative nursing education.</p

Professional competence development through interprofessional simulation-based learning assists perioperative nurses in postgraduation acute clinical practice situations: A qualitative study

Aims and objectives: To explore recently graduated perioperative nurses' experiences of interprofessional simulation-based learning during postgraduate education and investigate whether and how this learning approach contributed to the development of their professional competence in meeting acute clinical situations. Background: Perioperative nursing requires specialised education that offers professional development to ensure high-quality nursing care and patient safety in acute situations. Interprofessional simulation-based learning exposes students to acute situations in a safe environment without the risk of harming the patient, and it prepares postgraduate nursing students for clinical practice. Despite extensive research regarding simulation-based learning, there is a lack of knowledge on what impact such training has on perioperative nursing students after graduation. Design: An explorative qualitative design was used, and this study is reported in accordance with the COREQ guidelines. Method: Between March 2019–November 2020, 16 perioperative nurses participated in semi-structured individual interviews three to five months after their graduation from five different educational institutions. During their postgraduate education, they had participated in interprofessional simulation-based learning that included acute clinical situations. A phenomenological hermeneutical analysis was applied to the data involving three steps: naïve reading, structural analysis and comprehensive understanding. Results: During the naïve reading, three themes emerged: competence in handling acute situations, competence in interprofessional teamwork and professional identity development. Conclusion: Interprofessional simulation-based learning in perioperative nursing education developed relevant and important competence, including professional identity development, among perioperative nursing students. As recent graduates, their professional competence was transferred to clinical practice and developed further. Relevance to clinical practice: Findings indicate that interprofessional simulation-based learning is an important educational approach in perioperative nursing education. It is essential to use effective learning approaches to develop competencies that are transferable to clinical practice and improve perioperative nurses' performance as recent graduates. Therefore, interprofessional simulation-based learning should be implemented into perioperative nursing education.</p

A qualitative study of perioperative nursing students' experiences of interprofessional simulation-based learning

Aim: To explore perioperative nursing students' experiences of interprofessional simulation-based learning to gain a deeper understanding of how this educational tool can be used to support students' learning and enable them to achieve the intended learning outcomes. Background: Despite extensive research, it remains unclear what and how participants learn from interprofessional simulation-based learning. There is a need to specify how interprofessional simulation-based learning should be organised to support and promote learning processes, especially for postgraduate learners. In particular, there seems to be little evidence in the existing literature in the field of educating perioperative nurses, where advanced technical skills and high-quality nursing care are required. Design: The study's qualitative and explorative design is reported in accordance with the COREQ guideline. Method: Between May–October 2019, thirty-four perioperative nursing students from four educational institutions participated in six focus group interviews, with four to eight students in each. All participants had previous experience of interprofessional simulation-based learning in acute settings. Data were transcribed verbatim and were then subjected to phenomenological hermeneutical analysis involving three steps: naïve reading, structural analysis and comprehensive understanding. Results: Three themes were identified the following: customised interprofessional simulation-based learning; reality of the experience of interprofessional simulation-based learning; and preparedness for clinical practice. Conclusion: Customised interprofessional simulation-based learning was found to be of value to the participants and reflected their feeling of mental preparedness entering interprofessional simulation-based learning. Furthermore, participants' experience of reality when using the tool was a key theme that also impacted how prepared participants felt for clinical practice. Relevance to clinical practice: The study findings contribute to the further expansion of interprofessional simulation-based learning in perioperative nursing education as a means of developing students' professional competence. This is essential knowledge, as professional practitioners must reflect on practice to further enhance that practice and patient safety.</p