Effectiveness of simulation-based nursing education depending on fidelity: a meta-analysis. Issue 1 (December 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kim, Junghee; Park, Jin-Hwa; Shin, Sujin
• Is Part Of: BMC medical education. Volume 16:Issue 1(2016)
• Page Start: 1
• Page End: 8
• Publication Date: 2016-12
• Subjects: Nursing education -- Patient simulation -- Educational models -- Meta-analysis; Medical education -- Periodicals; 610.715
• DOI: 10.1186/s12909-016-0672-7
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1472-6920

Abstract

Abstract Background Simulation-based nursing education is an increasingly popular pedagogical approach. It provides students with opportunities to practice their clinical and decision-making skills through various real-life situational experiences. However, simulation approaches fall along a continuum ranging from low-fidelity to high-fidelity simulation. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect size of simulation-based educational interventions in nursing and compare effect sizes according to the fidelity level of the simulators through a meta-analysis. Method This study explores the quantitative evidence published in the electronic databases EBSCO, Medline, ScienceDirect, ERIC, RISS, and the National Assembly Library of Korea database. Using a search strategy including the search terms "nursing, " "simulation, " "human patient, " and "simulator, " we identified 2279 potentially relevant articles. Forty studies met the inclusion criteria and were retained in the analysis. Results This meta-analysis showed that simulation-based nursing education was effective in various learning domains, with a pooled random-effects standardized mean difference of 0.70. Subgroup analysis revealed that effect sizes were larger for high-fidelity simulation (0.86), medium-fidelity simulation (1.03), and standardized patients (0.86) than they were for low-fidelity and hybrid simulations. In terms of cognitive outcomes, the effect size was the largest for high-fidelity simulation (0.50). Regarding affective outcome, high-fidelity simulation (0.80) and standardized patients (0.73) had the largest effect sizes. Conclusions These results suggest that simulation-based nursing educational interventions have strong educational effects, with particularly large effects in the psychomotor domain. Since the effect is not proportional to fidelity level, it is important to use a variety of educational interventions to meet all of the educational goals.