Effects of a Simulation-Based Care After-Death Mentoring Program for New Nurses: Augmented Reality End-of-Life Experience

Background: Nurses who provide person-centered care even after death must possess essential competencies to perform their duties effectively. Therefore, it is imperative to develop educational programs to enhance the capabilities of new nurses in care after death. Objective: To develop a care after-death mentoring program that includes an augmented reality (AR) end-of-life experience for new nurses and to describe its effectiveness. Design: A quasi-experimental pre- to post-test design was followed to evaluate program outcomes. Setting/Participants: The participants (n = 18) were nurses with <12 months of experience working at a tertiary general hospital in South Korea. Measurements: A pre-post survey was conducted on comfort in bereavement/end-of-life care, death anxiety, and compassion competency. Data were analyzed using the SPSS program, employing descriptive statistics and paired sample t-tests. Results: Significant improvements were observed in both comfort during bereavement/end-of-life care and compassion competency (t = -8.43, p < 0.001; t = -4.90, p < 0.001). Conclusions: This study demonstrated enhancements in participants' comfort levels regarding bereavement and end-of-life care, as well as their ability to exhibit compassion after participating in the program. Consequently, it was confirmed that simulation-based care after-death mentoring education utilizing an AR app helped enhance the capabilities of new nurses.