Transitioning Undergraduate Maternal-Newborn and Pediatric Hospital Clinical Experience to Immersive Simulation-Based Education

Background: Nursing education has undergone restructuring in clinical and academic settings. Challenges facing nursing programs and academic educators include limited and varied clinical experiences in maternal-newborn and pediatric settings, contributing to low national benchmark exam scores. Sample: Six student cohorts enrolled in a traditional undergraduate nursing program in the United States (n = 640) participated, including three pre-transition (n = 282) and three post-transition (n = 358) cohorts. Method: This study compared outcomes of transitioning from maternal-newborn and pediatric clinical experiences in the traditional clinical practice setting to immersive simulation-based education utilizing modalities of virtual simulation and evidence-based simulation activities. Results: Comparisons of pre-transition to post-transition exam scores identified a significant increase post-transition (p < .0001, maternal-newborn range 4.9041-7.2637; pediatric range 3.2887-5.5949, 95% Confidence Interval). Conclusion: Comparisons of preand post-transition national benchmark exam scores identified preliminary evidence that replacement of hospital clinical experiences with simulation-based education is effective. Cite this article: White, P., & Champion, J.D. (2021, Month). Transitioning Undergraduate Maternal-Newborn and Pediatric Hospital Clinical Experience to Immersive Simulation-Based Education. Clinical Simulation in Nursing , 61, 10-13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecns.2021.08.027 . (c) 2021 International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation and Learning. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.