Exploring nursing students’ transfer of peripheral venous cannulation from skills centre to the clinical setting

Abstract

Background: It is assumed that practical skills learned through simulation can be transferred to the clinical setting, but little is known about students' skill performance on real patients after simulation-based learning. The literature shows that newly qualified nurses lack proficiency in skill performance, implying that transfer of learning is challenging. The aim is to explore practical skill transfer from skill centre to clinical setting.Method: A qualitative descriptive observational study of five undergraduate nursing students practicing peripheral venous cannulation (PVC) in the skills centre and clinical setting. Performances were compared using content analysis.Findings: There were similarities and differences in the students' performance accuracy in the skills centre and the clinical setting. Many steps were performed correctly, though some were performed incorrectly, and several were not performed or not relevant to perform in either setting. Practicing on a mannequin and on actual patients gave different learning opportunities. Practicing on a mannequin gave the students the opportunity to perform most of the PVC steps even if the vein was missed. When students missed the vein on real patients, they had to terminate the attempt, with no opportunity to perform subsequent steps of the skill.Conclusion: Low-fidelity simulation was found both to be effective, as it provided familiarity with equipment used in the clinical setting, and inadequate due to lacking opportunity to discern differences encountered in the clinical setting. The simulation must be improved to ensure that students learn what is needed for safe practice on real patients in the clinical setting.

Defining and comparing learning actions in two simulation modalities: students training on a latex arm and each other's arms

“…Performance of technical steps leading to vein cannulation is an expected PVC achievement (Ravik et al . ). In the present study, students were not provided with similar types and amounts of feedback regarding this challenging aspect of the skill.…”

“…The performance of PVC has previously been operationalised into 47 steps inspired by PVC guidelines used in nursing education (Ravik et al . ; Fig. ).…”

“…• Videos were viewed through the lens of a deductive coding scheme, to ensure that the findings were based on existing theoretical implications (Reichertz 2007). The performance of PVC has previously been operationalised into 47 steps inspired by PVC guidelines used in nursing education (Ravik et al 2015; Fig. 1).…”

“…, Ravik et al . ). Although PVC is essential in students’ skill training in nursing education, limited research has been conducted to examine learning of this invasive skill (Hilton & Barrett , Brydges et al .…”

“…The authors called for research examining learning actions used during training in practical nursing skills other than wound care and use of sterile gloves. In this study, students' learning actions were explored during PVC, a common (Chang et al 2002) but challenging practical skill to learn and perform (Marshburn et al 2009, Ravik et al 2015. Although PVC is essential in students' skill training in nursing education, limited research has been conducted to examine learning of this invasive skill (Hilton & Barrett 2009, Brydges et al 2010.…”