Undergraduate nursing students’ experiences of practicing caring behaviours with standardised patients

Abstract

Rationale: Undergraduate nursing students' learning opportunities to practice caring behaviours to assure compassionate and competent nursing practice with standardised patients are few. Earlier studies primarily focused on practicing communication skills in relation to mental health or developing psychomotor skills while caring for a patient with a specific diagnosis. Aim:The study aim was to describe undergraduate nursing students' experiences of practicing caring behaviours with a standardised patient.Method: A sample of forty-eight undergraduate nursing students in semester four at a school of nursing in southern Sweden, enrolled in a full-time, 5-week, on-campus elective caring behaviour course, were at the first and last week individually videorecorded during two caring behaviour simulations encountering a standardised patient. After observing each of their video-recordings, students completed written reflections focusing on their own compassionate and competent verbal and nonverbal caring behaviour. In total, 96 individual written reflections were analysed using qualitative content analysis to describe the experience. Results:One main theme emerged: The challenge of being mindfully present in patient encounters. Four themes further described the experience: A challenging but realistic learning experience, learning the impact of nonverbal behaviour, recognising the complexity of verbal behaviour, and learning to be with the patient instead of only doing for the patient. Conclusion:When caring is intertwined with visible and realistic nursing practice in simulations using standardised patients it facilitates undergraduate nursing students learning compassionate and competent caring behaviour. The learning experience opened the students' eyes to the impact of practicing caring, recognising that being with is not the same as doing for the patient, and thus, how challenging it is to

Elimination of restrictive interventions: Is it achievable under the current mental healthcare landscape?

“…For instance, Olasoji et al ( 2020) conducted a pre-placement workshop with 89 undergraduate nursing students that used professional actors to provide a high-fidelity simulation, with significant improvements in therapeutic engagement, assessment and placement preparedness noted after the workshop. Similar levels of improvement in engagement have been found in other studies using simulated consumers at the undergraduate level (Godzik et al, 2023;Lockertsen et al, 2023;Mårtensson et al, 2023).…”

The Effect of Simulation on Nursing Student Perceptions of Readiness to Provide End-of-Life Care

“…This study allowed participants to experience SPs a year earlier than they would have otherwise. Standardized patients are beneficial not only for practicing psychomotor skills 14 but also for practicing caring behaviors 27 . Early and consistent simulation with SPs can provide realistic skills practice and interactions, fostering more meaningful clinical coursework and preparing more well-rounded and resilient NGNs.…”

Development of caring behaviour in undergraduate nursing students participating in a caring behaviour course

“…This morning she told the assistant nurse that she was not feeling well as she felt anxious, dizzy, and nauseated. The student acting as the nurse was asked to go visit her [26].…”

“…Moreover, Kaldheim et al [30] reported that nursing students found it easier to grasp both verbal and non‐verbal caring behaviours when observing others. In addition, Mårtensson et al [26] described that students participating in the CBC deepened their understanding of non‐verbal caring behaviour when they observed their own caring behaviour in an encounter with a standardised patient. However, learning caring behaviours could depend on cultural and contextual aspects [29].…”