The effect of simulation-based learning on nursing students' clinical decision-making skills: Systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Background: Simulation-based education methods improve nursing students' clinical decision-making skills. It allows students to experience situations they may not encounter in a real clinical environment.

Objectives: The aim of this systematic review was to better understand the effectiveness of simulation-based education on clinical decision-making skills in undergraduate nursing students.

Design: Meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials and quasi-experimental studies.

Data sources: The review included fourteen studies obtained by scanning the PubMed, EBSCO (Medline, CINAHL), OVID, Web of Science, and Cochrane databases.

Review methods: Three authors independently screened the literature, extracted data, and assessed the quality of the included studies. The methodological quality of the studies was assessed with the Critical Appraisal Checklists for experimental and quasi-experimental studies developed by the Joanna Briggs Institute. Standardized mean difference with 95 % confidence interval was used to facilitate direct comparisons between studies. All statistical tests were performed with Review Manager 5.4 software.

Results: In this study, 1614 records were reached as a result of the first screening. After examining the titles and removing duplicate articles and other articles that did not meet the research criteria according to the abstracts, 48 articles were included in the full-text analysis. Three researchers read the studies (n = 48) eligible for evaluation, and 14 (n = 14) studies suitable for full-text review met all of the listed inclusion criteria and were included in the meta-analysis.

Conclusion: The analysis revealed that simulation-based educational practices appeared to improve undergraduate nursing students' clinical decision-making skills.

Keywords: Clinical decision making; Meta-analysis; Nursing education; Simulation.