| The importance of critical thinking skills in the professional nurse is well documented in the nursing literature, although new graduate nurses are failing to demonstrate this important skill. Traditional nursing education models, which have included the use of clinical agency experiences to facilitate the development of critical thinking skills, are becoming scarce. The use of human patient simulation (HPS) has begun to be cautiously implemented into nursing education programs in response to clinical agency shortages. However, the dearth of educational research to support the true efficacy of this educational tool necessitates the need for additional research. The purpose of this quantitative, experimental, controlled, pre- and posttest design study was to evaluate the impact of additional HPS experiences (five versus three) on the acquisition of critical thinking skills in first semester associate degree nursing students. Additionally, the study sought to investigate the impact of additional HPS experiences on the development of assessment skills, nursing knowledge, and critical thinking disposition. The study utilized a convenience sample of N = 73, control (n = 37) and experimental ( n = 36), first semester associate degree nursing students at one moderately sized community college located in central Arizona. Constructivism served as the theoretical framework for the study. Results of the study, while not statistically significant, did demonstrate that the experimental group (five HPS experiences) did have higher mean score differences from pretest to posttest when compared to the control group (three HPS experiences) in all four constructs that were measured. Results of the study demonstrate that HPS may be an effective educational tool that can enhance nursing education in light of current and future challenges. |
