Effectiveness of a virtual simulation and self-debriefing app on nursing students' pediatric pain knowledge: A randomized controlled trial

Background: Knowledge retention and decision-making skills are important in clinical nursing practice.A virtual child-based simulation and self-debriefing learning application (app) was developed for pediatric pain assessment and management.Method: Third-year nursing students received either classroom instruction on pediatric pain (control group (CG), n = 84) or instruction and a virtual simulation learning app (intervention group (IG), n = 100).Differences in pediatric pain knowledge scores between groups before instruction (T0) versus postinstruction (T1) and versus one-month postinstruction/simulation (T2) examined the effect of the intervention on knowledge retention.Three simulation tasks were used to assess the thinking and actions taken (right thinking/right action) by the IG.Results: General estimating equations indicated that knowledge scores increased significantly from T0 to T2 for the IG compared to the CG ( = 6.826, p = .016),indicating better knowledge retention.Right thinking/right action for all simulation tasks was achieved by only 22.0% of the IG.Conclusions: Our findings suggest that virtual scenario-based teaching should include self-briefing to ensure that the correct actions taken during simulations reflect correct thinking about the problem.