Melynda Ann Thelen1. 1. South Dakota State University, Brooking, SD, United States of America. Electronic address: melynda.thelen@jacks.sdstate.edu.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Medication errors are fatally significant, posing considerable threats to patient safety. To date, there is a lack of literature and no consistent recommended nursing pharmacology curriculum design to improve nursing students' pharmacology self-efficacy. PURPOSE: The purpose of this pilot study is to examine the effects of nursing pharmacology synchronous online scrabbling active learning classroom design with simulated clinical immersion experiences on the students' self-efficacy and perceived pharmacology knowledge acquisition. METHODS: A pretest-posttest intervention design was used with a convenience sample of (n = 34) accelerated nursing students. The intervention included an online synchronous scrabbling active learning classroom design with simulated clinical immersion experiences for eight weeks. The Motivated Strategies for Learning Self-Efficacy Subscale (MSLQ-SE) questionnaire was applied before and after the intervention. The Survey for Knowledge Acquisition and Application (SKAA) was used post-intervention. The students also provided narrative, open-ended responses regarding their perceptions of the synchronous simulated clinical experiences. RESULTS: The results of the simulated clinical immersions presented an improvement in self-efficacy scores. A one tailed paired t-test presented a significant increase from MSLQ-SE pre-test scores (M = 31.2, SD = 4.8) to MSLQ-SE post-test scores (M = 32.9, SD = 4.3); (t(33) = -2.1, p = .02). The SKAA results presented that the students perceived that simulated clinical immersions were promoting authentic learning and confidence. CONCLUSION: The finding of this study is significant to nursing pharmacology education. The online synchronous simulated clinical immersion experiences improved overall self-efficacy scores and provide an authentic teaching approach to connect pharmacology theory to the clinical practice.
BACKGROUND: Medication errors are fatally significant, posing considerable threats to patient safety. To date, there is a lack of literature and no consistent recommended nursing pharmacology curriculum design to improve nursing students' pharmacology self-efficacy. PURPOSE: The purpose of this pilot study is to examine the effects of nursing pharmacology synchronous online scrabbling active learning classroom design with simulated clinical immersion experiences on the students' self-efficacy and perceived pharmacology knowledge acquisition. METHODS: A pretest-posttest intervention design was used with a convenience sample of (n = 34) accelerated nursing students. The intervention included an online synchronous scrabbling active learning classroom design with simulated clinical immersion experiences for eight weeks. The Motivated Strategies for Learning Self-Efficacy Subscale (MSLQ-SE) questionnaire was applied before and after the intervention. The Survey for Knowledge Acquisition and Application (SKAA) was used post-intervention. The students also provided narrative, open-ended responses regarding their perceptions of the synchronous simulated clinical experiences. RESULTS: The results of the simulated clinical immersions presented an improvement in self-efficacy scores. A one tailed paired t-test presented a significant increase from MSLQ-SE pre-test scores (M = 31.2, SD = 4.8) to MSLQ-SE post-test scores (M = 32.9, SD = 4.3); (t(33) = -2.1, p = .02). The SKAA results presented that the students perceived that simulated clinical immersions were promoting authentic learning and confidence. CONCLUSION: The finding of this study is significant to nursing pharmacology education. The online synchronous simulated clinical immersion experiences improved overall self-efficacy scores and provide an authentic teaching approach to connect pharmacology theory to the clinical practice.