The Effectiveness of Standardized Patient Managed Instruction for a Fundamental Nursing Course

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a standardized patients managed instruction program for a fundamentals of nursing. The standardized patients managed instruction was evaluated by using a quasi-experimental, nonequivalent control group posttest design with two separate classes of sophomore students attending fundamentals of nursing classes at one baccaleureate nursing school in Korea. Control group was taught by traditional lecture/model instruction and experimental group was taught by standardized patient managed instruction. Data were collected from December, 1999 to July, 2000 using checklist developed by researcher on following areas; clinical nursing performance, communication skills, and learning motivation. There were 36 students in the experimental group and 40 students in the control group. Data analysis was done using SPSS WINDOW. The results were summarized as follows ; 1. Clinical nursing performances were evaluated by change position, back care and hot bag apply. The total score was statistically significant higher in the experimental group than the control group(t=3.325, p=.000). Thus hypothesis 1 was supported. 2. Communication skill was evaluated by professional attitude and ability to explain to patients. There was a statistically significant difference between the experimental group and the control group (t=4.232, p=.000). Thus hypothesis 2 was supported. 3. Learning motivation was evaluated by self-reported questionnaires. There was statistically a significant difference between the experimental group and the control group(t=3.024, p=.004). Thus hypothesis 3 was supported. In conclusion, this study suggests that standardized patients managed instruction is an effective learning method to nursing students. By utilizing a standardized patient managed instruction, learning can proceed in a more relaxed environment and reduce the risks to patients because student inexperience are avoided. It is recommended to develop more standardized patients cases for wider areas of nursing educational and evaluate the program with more students using logitudinal method.