Thesis:

Evaluating effectiveness of simulation in learning respiratory assessment among nursing students of Mount Kenya University, Thika, Kenya.

Simulation allows nursing students to perform skills they have learned in class. It allows them to apply theory into practice. The available manikin for simulation include low, medium and high fidelity manikin. Globally, simulation is among the teaching methods used to train nurses and other healthcare professionals. Despite the benefits of high fidelity simulation illustrated in other studies, there is paucity of research done on the effectiveness of simulation using medium fidelity manikin among nursing students. Currently, the healthcare education system focuses on basic science education and leaves most skills training in an unsystematic process and unstructured. Since the laboratory sessions are not examined or assessed for the students to \be awarded marks, students do not attend laboratory simulation sessions as expected. OSCE motivate students to attend simulation sessions since they will be examined. At Mount Kenya University, students are not examined on their skills in the laboratory. This is because simulation is not incorporated in the curriculum and by the time the researcher was conducting the study, there was no university policy on the need of assessing students in the laboratory. World Health Organization recommended that further research on the effectiveness and cost of integrating simulation into curricula to be done. This study evaluated effectiveness of medium fidelity simulation. It adopted a cross-sectional quantitative pretest-posttest quasi experimental design. It was conducted at Mount Kenya University among undergraduate nursing students. Purposive sampling will be used. Simple random assignment was used to sort out the sample participants into control and experimental groups. Cluster randomization was used to minimize contamination of control group. The sample size was achieved through Yamane’s formula. Data was collected through a pretest quiz, Structured Observation Checklist and Questionnaire. Data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze data to make meaningful statistics. Preliminary ethical approval was sought from Mount Kenya University School of Postgraduate as well as from MKU Ethical Review Committee. The researcher also seek approval from Thika Level 5 Hospital from the Hospital’s research and ethics committee. National Commission of Technology and Innovation (NACOSTI) was also involved in granting ethical approval. Participation was voluntary and study adhered to principles of informed consent among patients before performing chest respiratory assessment. On assessment of knowledge, experimental group had a mean score of 91.8% with Standard Deviation 9.68. Control group had a mean of 88.11% with Standard Deviation of 10.38. At 95% confidence level, P-value of.016 suggested that there was difference in knowledge on chest respiratory assessment between experimental and control groups. Clinical competency between the experimental and control groups was compared using an independent sample t-test. Experimental group had a mean of 92.67 with standard deviation of 6.602. Control group had a mean of 62.23 with standard deviation of 12.118. The P-value = .001. With 95% confidence level, there was statistical difference in clinical competency between the two groups. Students who participated in simulation (experimental group) displayed better performance in knowledge and clinical competency than those who did not participate in simulation (control group). Further research can be done determine factors that can motivate nursing students to attend laboratory.