Graduation Term

2015

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Mennonite College of Nursing

Committee Chair

Susan P. Kossman

Abstract

This dissertation is comprised of three manuscripts, to be submitted for publication, exploring the use of simulation in geriatric nursing education. The first manuscript is a literature review. Although, a number of articles exist on the use of simulation in nursing education, there is a paucity of research using simulation emphasizing the care of patients with dementia and delirium as a pedagogical strategy or those using a stringent research design.

The second manuscript provides an overview of two conceptual frameworks (National League for Nursing (NLN)/Jeffries Simulation Framework and situated cognition learning framework) and recommends merging them to guide researchers as they explore application and transfer of learning from simulations to clinical settings.

The third manuscript outlines the method and results of a quasi-experimental study to determine if undergraduate nursing students' knowledge, skills, and attitudes improve following a simulation experience. Twenty-six senior undergraduate nursing students in their last semester gerontological nursing course participated in the study.

Both groups received didactic content and the experimental group also participated in a simulation on care of the older adult with dementia and delirium. To examine differences in knowledge and attitudes all students completed a pretest prior to the scheduled simulation day and posttest one month later. To examine skills, students viewed a videotaped encounter of a patient with delirium/dementia and completed the Confusion Assessment Method (CAM) on the posttest. The experimental group maintained their knowledge scores while the control group scores dropped. Attitude scores were higher for those in the experimental group and all students correctly identified delirium superimposed on dementia using the CAM.

Access Type

Dissertation-Open Access

DOI

http://doi.org/10.30707/ETD2015.Kelly.S

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