Evaluation of students' perceived clinical competence and learning needs following an online virtual simulation education programme with debriefing during the COVID-19 pandemic

Aims and objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of a virtual simulation education programme with debriefing in undergraduate nursing students. Perceived clinical competence and learning needs of students in a simulation environment were also measured.

Background: Evidence showed virtual simulation education programmes provided better knowledge acquisition. However, these studies to date did not incorporate virtual simulation in the combination of a debriefing model in nursing students.

Design: A one-group pre-test and post-test design.

Methods: 188 final year undergraduate nursing students participated in the study. Linear mixed model analysis was conducted to evaluate the effect of the programme.

Results: Students have perceived a significant improvement in clinical competence and nursing process. Self-efficacy has also boosted. Communication and critical thinking were applied better in the traditional clinical environment.

Conclusion: Perceived clinical competence of Chinese nursing students has significant improvements by using virtual simulation combining a debriefing model during the COVID-19 period. Virtual simulation met students' learning needs. Future studies should include a control group for comparison and long-term measurement.

Relevance to clinical practice: The study provided an innovative clinical learning pedagogy to serve as a potential alternative with traditional clinical practicum during the COVID-19 period as this is substantially limited.