Evaluation of Communication Skills of Students with Visually Impaired Simulated Patient

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this article; The aim of this course is to evaluate the communication skills of students with a visually impaired simulated patient. Method: This research was conducted as a single-group quasiexperimental research design. The research was carried out with 57 students who accepted to participate in the research in the nursing skills laboratory of the nursing department, who took the course of Disability Nursing in the 3rd grade in the fall semester of the 2018-2019 academic year. In the collection of research data; Sociodemographic Characteristics Information Form, Student Satisfaction and Self-Confidence in Learning Scale, Simulation Design Scale, Educational Practice Questionnaire, Student Communication Skills Evaluation Form were used.During the implementation of the simulation scenario, a communication skills checklist was used to evaluate the communication between the visually impaired simulated patient and the students. Results: The mean age of the students participating in the study was 20.75±1.25 (min-max:19-25). 19.3% (n:11) of the students are boys and 80.7% (n:46) are girls. The total scale scores of the students participating in the simulation of the Student Satisfaction and Self-Confidence in Learning scale were 4.12± .48 (min:3.08 and max:5.00), the total scale scores of the Simulation Design Scale were 7.82± 1.24 (min:4.10 and max:9.80), the Educational Practices Questionnaire total scale scores were found to be 7.78±1.85 (min: 2.38 and max: 11.75). All of the students treated the patient with respect, 94.7% informed the patient about the procedure to be performed, 89.5% informed the patient about the result of the procedure, and 87.7% listened to the patient without interrupting. Only 38.6% of the students kept eye contact while talking to the patient, 52.6% of them gave verbal information first and then asked if they were ready by touching. Conclusion: The results of the study show that the students are satisfied with the simulation application. In line with the results of the study, it is recommended to conduct simulation trainings for different types of disabilities and to conduct simulation-based trainings in addition to theoretical courses.