Exploring Undergraduate Nursing Students' Preferences in Psychiatric Nursing Simulation Modalities.

Background: The use of high-fidelity simulators (manikins) and standardized patients (SPs) in simulation has been incorporated into many nursing schools throughout the nation to augment the clinical rotation experience. There is little to no data available on comparing undergraduate students' preferences between SPs and manikins in psychiatric nursing.

Methods: A quantitative descriptive exploratory design was used to evaluate pre-licensure nursing students' preferences in both traditional 4-year Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) and accelerated BSN programs (ABSN).

Results: Overall, students preferred having an SP over a manikin to learn how to properly perform a nursing assessment on a psychiatric patient.

Conclusions: Standardized patients offer a more realistic experience when assessing various domains of the mental status examination and when practicing therapeutic communication techniques in psychiatric nursing. The growth of SP training programs should be fostered. Well-trained SPs are an asset to simulation, especially in psychiatric nursing.