Effectiveness of simulation on nursing students' self-confidence for intervention in out-of-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation: a quasi-experimental study

AIMS: To verify the effectiveness of the simulation in the self-confidence of nursing students for extra-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation. METHODS: A quasi-experimental, before and after, single-group study, was performed with nursing undergraduate students. The sample was recruited among university students who were in the second or third year of graduation and accepted to participate in the research. The intervention protocol consisted of individual participation in a emergency simulated clinical scenario. The simulated scenario adopted consisted of cardiopulmonary resuscitation in extra-hospital cardiorespiratory arrest, using the Mini Anne Plus (R) low fidelity manikin. In addition to the sociodemographic variables, students' self-confidence for emergency action was analyzed, evaluated by the Self-Confidence Scale, before and after each simulation. Marginal and homogeneous Wilcoxon homogeneity tests were applied, and the accepted significance level was 5%. RESULTS: Thirteen two undergraduate students in nursing between the ages of 18 and 38 participated in the study. Statistically significant differences (p<0.001) were observed in the answers of all the questions of the Self-confidence Scale when compared before and after the simulation. There was also a statistically significant increase (p<0.001) in cardiological, respiratory and neurological scores after simulation. CONCLUSIONS: The simulation proved to be an effective educational strategy in increasing the self-confidence of nursing students to perform extra-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation.