Prevention of Ventilator‐Associated Pneumonia in Intensive Care Units: The Effect of Scenario‐Based Simulation on Nursing Students' Skill Development Process

BACKGROUND: Nursing students need to be equipped with effective clinical skills to prevent ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in high-risk patients in intensive care units. AIM: The study aimed to determine the effectiveness of scenario-based simulation training in developing knowledge and skills for the prevention of VAP in undergraduate nursing students. STUDY DESIGN: A single-group, pretest-posttest quasi-experimental study was conducted with undergraduate nursing students enrolled in an intensive care course. Scenario-based simulations and a VAP Prevention Performance Checklist were prepared for the study. The students' skill performance was assessed simultaneously by two independent observers before and after the simulation training. Pretest and posttest scores were compared with Wilcoxon, McNemar and McNemar-Bowker tests, and interrater agreement was assessed using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC). RESULTS: In total, 36 students participated in the study. The content validity of the VAP Prevention Performance Checklist was assessed using the Delphi method, which resulted in expert consensus for all items in the second round (the scale-level content validity index was 1.00). There was excellent interrater agreement in the skill performance assessment (ICC = 0.982; p < 0.001). The students' VAP prevention performance scores were significantly higher in the posttest than in the pretest (38.38 ± 7.81 vs. 18.38 ± 5.06, p = 0.002, Cohen's d = 1.25). CONCLUSIONS: Scenario-based simulation training was shown to be effective in increasing nursing students' awareness and implementation of skills that contribute to the prevention of VAP. Scenario-based simulations can be used as an effective method to improve VAP prevention knowledge and skills during undergraduate nursing education and in-service training. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Scenario-based simulations can be used as an effective method to improve VAP prevention knowledge and skills during undergraduate nursing education and in-service training.