Human patient simulation to improve the attitude of the nursing students

Abstract

Attitude is an essential attribute of a nurse. Nursing education has an important role to shape the attitude of the nursing students, as a foundation of their attitude as nurses. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of the human patient simulation learning method on the attitude of the nursing students. Quasi-experimental, two group pre/post-test design was used. A total of 95 nursing students of the second year were given intervention and 37 students from another institution were assigned as control group. Second year students were selected as they were about to have clinical practice at the hospital. After the human patient simulation the attitude score statistically significantly increased in the intervention group (p < .01). The attitude score in the intervention group rose by 18.7 points (scale 37-185) and decreased by 8.2 point in the control group. The findings showed that the human patient simulation improved the attitude of the nursing students before having the actual learning experience with the patients at the hospital. Clinical learning environment in Indonesia is generally far from ideal to shape good attitude of the nursing students. Thus, human patient simulation is recommended to prepare the nursing students prior to clinical internship.