Screen-Based Patient Simulation: An Exemplar for Developing and Assessing Competency.

Background: Nursing education is moving toward competency-based education and assessment. Nurse educators will need to adopt strategies to develop and measure competence.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine if screen-based virtual patient simulation is an effective strategy to assist learners in developing competencies and subcompetencies required in nursing practice.

Methods: Thirteen questions (6 assessment and clinical reasoning focused, 4 clinical judgment focused, 3 attitude and socialization to nursing focused), aligned with the competencies of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing Essentials, were developed for a pre-/posttest design to evaluate student competency development.

Results: Senior nursing students (n = 52) participated; 1-tailed paired t test identified 12 of 13 items as statistically significant. Posttest scores were greater than pretest scores.

Conclusions: The change in mean scores from pre- to posttest suggests screen-based virtual patient simulation scenarios improve learners' competence in addressing the patient's physical and psychological comfort and decreased caregiver biases.