2017 Volume 37 Pages 390-398
Objectives: This study reviewed the education, research methodology, and evaluations used in a simulation-based learning program for undergraduate pediatric nursing students.
Methods: A review of studies published in December 2015 was performed using the following databases: CINAHL, PubMed, and the Japanese Central Review of Medicine. The primary search terms were ‘pediatric,’ ‘child,’ ‘simulation,’ ‘manikin,’ ‘nursing,’ and ‘student.’ Additionally, reference lists from all relevant reports were searched.
Results: In total, 38 studies were included in the review. We found that studies regarding simulation-based learning for pediatric nursing students are increasing. The simulation scenario in these studies focused on assessments of child development and nursing care using common pediatric clinical situations involving manikins and high-quality human standardized patients. These studies also performed pre-briefing and debriefings for pediatric nursing courses and clinical practices, and some studies exchanged a component of a course on pediatric clinical practices for simulations. The evaluations included various learning outcomes, such as knowledge, experience, performance, critical thinking, clinical judgment, and self-confidence, as well as a measure of the satisfaction of undergraduate student nurses, particularly many learning outcomes was subjectively.
Conclusions: It is important that the scenarios of the simulations used in pediatric nursing education emphasize child developmental assessment and pediatric nursing care and be well-designed and educational; it is also important that programs include a combination of classroom learning and clinical practice. Additionally, the use of a valid research design, predefined learning outcomes, and measures of the effectiveness of simulations are important contributors to undergraduate pediatric nursing education.
