Identifying an Effect of Simulation Role Assignment on Critical Thinking Development in Baccalaureate Nursing Students

With an increase in the number of nursing students and the limited number of open clinical positions, high-fidelity patient simulators (HFPS) have become the new norm. Multiple studies have evaluated HFPS effectiveness and several suggest that HFPS does has an effect on critical thinking. This study intends to provide data to support that suggestion. In addition, this study was designed to identify a possible correlation between role assignment and improvements in critical thinking after completion of a HFPS scenario. Analysis revealed that role assignment, for most of the roles, did have a statistically significant effect on the post-simulation critical thinking assessment scores. The relationship between role assignments and HFPS scenario outcomes (such as critical thinking), as well as the nature of the correlation, may help scenario developers better understand how critical thinking improvement can be affected by the involvement of the participant based on the roles assigned to them.