Satisfaction and Self-Confidence With Simulation Learning Experience as Perceived by Nursing Students

Introduction

Simulations are created to mimic a real-life clinical environment in order to demonstrate clinical procedures. It helps students improve their decision-making and problem-solving abilities. It improves nursing clinical practice, nursing knowledge, critical thinking, communication skills, self-confidence and satisfaction. It includes approaches such as role playing, computer-based interactive programs, and high-fidelity simulations (Zhang, 2017). As several studies have shown, simulation is a significant and successful component of nursing education. It enhances clinical nursing practice, nursing knowledge, critical thinking, communication skills, self-confidence, and satisfaction (Warren et al., 2016; Aebersold, 2018; Alanazi et al., 2017). Before practicing on real patients, nursing students must create a safe patient environment and gain self-confidence in nursing practice. Building nursing students' self-confidence is a basic nursing goal in nursing education since it can have a direct impact on their ability to care for patients successfully and efficiently (Alammary, 2017).

Nowadays, many nursing schools view simulation as a necessary component of clinical nursing education. Because it can give students with a safe atmosphere in which to study clinical practice (Kim, 2016). Simulation is not a novel notion in nursing education. It has been used in a variety of ways to influence understanding regarding certain nursing procedures and critical thinking skills. This is accomplished in the laboratory using low, medium, or even high-fidelity simulators. Additionally, the use of case studies has been shown to improve nursing students' problem-solving abilities. Simulation has been increasingly popular in nursing education, and several curricula now incorporate simulation throughout every course (Lara et al.,2021; Aebersold, 2018; Eyikara & Baykara, 2017).

Simulation in nursing education has been widely used in many colleges in Saudi Arabia. It helps in enhancing nursing students’ skills to improve standard of patient care provided by nurses as reported by the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties in Saudi Arabia (Ware, 2015). Some nursing students might be satisfied with the use of simulation in learning, while others might feel threatened by its different levels. Generally, and based on literature, simulation proved to be useful for nursing students regarding knowledge gain, value and realism but the outcome on students’ satisfaction and self-confidence are conflicting. Without exploring the perception of students regarding simulation, nurse educators will be unable to improve the simulation experience during teaching or improve/ reinforce their learning through simulation (Alammary, 2017; Alanazi et al, 2017).

High-fidelity simulators continue to have some drawbacks, including a restricted number of possible clinical situations and a less dynamic clinical context simulation. These high-fidelity simulations require specialized physical venues, which presents challenges for institutions with limited space and financial resources dedicated to conservation. These limits restrict the availability of simulators for students' outside-of-class training. All of these factor's conflict with the financial limits faced by a large number of nursing students and policy decisions to cut public spending on higher education.

At the moment, advances in digital and virtual technology have facilitated the recreation of reality through the use of virtual patients represented on a computer touch screen clinical virtual simulation. clinical virtual simulation is a computer-generated program of reality in which actual people operate virtual systems. It is a sort of simulation in which humans take the lead by training their motor control, decision-making, and communication abilities (Campos et.al,2020).