| Critical thinking is essential in nursing. Nursing students need critical thinking skills to apply knowledge and theory to practice. Nursing educators recognize the need for teaching critical thinking and have been exploring teaching methods and strategies. Simulation has been found to increase student's critical thinking, decision making, and problem solving skills (Jefferies, 2005). The purpose of this study is to evaluate if weekly simulation improves the critical thinking skills of associate degree nursing students in their first semester of the nursing program. Preliminary results showed no significance in students that received weekly simulation and those that did not receive weekly simulation. Upon closer review of the results, a difference was found among nursing students that scored below the national mean for the critical thinking test, they had a significant increase in critical thinking scores after weekly simulation (p ≤ .001). Validating that students that enter a nursing program with a limited amount of critical thinking, benefit from weekly simulation and improve critical thinking scores through simulation exercises. Additionally, students perceived simulation to improve critical thinking, decision making, and communication skills.;Keywords: Simulation, critical thinking, nursing... |
