An evaluation of the impact of the flipped classroom model on nursing students' levels of knowledge and skill, perception of competence and retention of learning

This study aims to evaluate the impact of the Flipped Classroom Model (FCM) on nursing students' knowledge and skill levels, perception of competence, and retention of learning. The sample of this control and experimental group designed study consisted of 71 first-grade nursing students (35 in experimental and 36 in control). The data were collected between February 2018 and April 2018 using student information form, and knowledge test called pre-test, post-test and retention test including vital signs, nutrition, drug management and preparation for parenteral drug administration, skill assessment forms including blood pressure measurement (BPM), drug preparation (DP), nasogastric tube insertion (NTI) and blood glucose measurement (BGM) with a glucometer, the self-efficacy scale and student opinion form on FCM, and the study was completed in January 2021. The students in the experimental group took the Nursing Fundamentals course with the FCM and the students in the control group with traditional teaching methods. To analyze the data, frequency, percentage, t-test, chi-square test, McNemar, Mann Whitney U test, Wilcoxon sign test, analysis of variance in repeated measures, and ANOVA tests were used. No statistically significant difference was found between the pre-test scores of a knowledge test and self-efficacy test of the student nurses in the experimental and control groups about the vital signs, nutrition, drug management, and preparation for parenteral drug administration (p>0.05). However, the posttest and retention test scores of the knowledge test of the students in the experimental group were higher than the control group, and the difference between them was found to be statistically significant (p<0.05). Besides, the skill scores of the experimental group, including the BPM, DP, NTI, and BGM applications in the first monitoring, and the BPM and DP applications in the retention monitoring were statistically significantly higher than the skill scores of the students in the control group (p<0.05). There was no significant difference between the groups in terms of self-efficacy levels (p>0.05). In conclusion, the study reveals that FCM has a positive impact on the knowledge and skill levels of nursing students, does not affect self-efficacy-perceptions, and provides retention in acquired knowledge and skills.