Replacing the Pediatric Traditional Clinical Experience with High-Fidelity Simulation in an Associate Degree Nursing Program

The lack of access for the traditional clinical experience for nursing students, especially those in an Associate Degree nursing program, and the projected shortage of nursing faculty to educate nursing students in the clinical setting, fosters the utilization of different educational methodologies. The purpose of this action research study was to compare and assess the traditional clinical experience with high-fidelity simulation and evaluate the effectiveness of high-fidelity simulation as a replacement for the traditional clinical experience. The National League for Nursing (NLN) recognizes simulation as a teaching methodology in nursing education. Each State Board of Nursing (BON) contends that the use of simulation in replacement of the traditional clinical experience promotes enhanced learning and alleviates the limitation to traditional clinical placement. Jeffries (2005) simulation framework is the most notable nursing theory developed in simulation-based education. Simulation has transcended to the virtual world. Virtual Simulation (vSim) for Nursing offers online patient simulation scenarios (Jeffries, 2016). The Clinical Learning Environment Comparison Survey 2.0© (CLECS 2.0) was utilized to compare the traditional clinical experience with high-fidelity simulation and virtual simulation, evaluating how effectively the three environments meet the nursing students learning needs (Leighton et al., 2020).