The effect of different debriefing methods in simulation-based training on nursing students' knowledge and performance

The aim of this experimental study was to evaluate the effect of different debriefing methods in simulation-based training on nursing students' knowledge and performance. The study sample consisted of 83 second-grade nursing students of the Nursing Department of the Faculty of Health Sciences of Yildirim Beyazit University, Ankara. All participants enrolled in the Surgical Nursing Course in the spring semester of the 2017-2018 academic year. All participants attended standardized patient simulation training on anticoagulant treatment. The control group participants (CG) only attended simulation while those in experimental groups 1 (EG1) and 2 (EG2) participated in post-simulation verbal and video debriefing sessions, respectively. Participants' knowledge was measured using a knowledge test while their performance was evaluated based on their practices on real patients. Simulation-based training significantly increased the knowledge scores of all groups (p = 0.025 for the control group, p <0.001 for the experimental groups). CG, EG1 and EG2 had a mean patient performance score of 39.41±8.41, 60.50±8.44 and 74.57±10.78, respectively. EG2 had significantly higher performance scores than CG and EG1 whereas EG1 had significantly higher performance scores than CG (p<0.001). Given the results, it is recommended that simulation training be integrated into nursing education curriculum and that oral and video debriefing sessions be held.