Use of standardized patients to the acquisition of clinical-theoretical knowledge by nursing undergraduate students

Abstract

Teaching needs to innovate with methodologies which foster learning while, at the same time, maintain the ethical principles which give base to the professional activities. Such is the case of the use of standardized patients (SP).

Objective: To assess the effects of an intervention which combines standardized theoretical classes with the use of SP, on the knowledge which undergraduate students, undergoing their psychiatric nursing subject, have on schizophrenia and mood disorders.

Method: This was a qualitative and descriptive study on a universe of 157 nursing students from the fifth and sixth semesters of their program. Data collection was conducted through a knowledge assessment instrument which was submitted to content validity tests. The SPSS® program was used to analyze these data.

Results: From the intervention, it was observed that the methodology of standardized class increments in an average of 34% the students’ knowledge, while the use of SP contributes with an additional 10%. When combining both methodologies, and without any other content- deepening technique, the students’ knowledge on schizophrenia increased 49.4% while their knowledge on mood disorders increased 41.9%.

Conclusion: The use of combined methodological strategies contributes to the acquisition of formation-needed knowledge by undergraduate psychiatric nursing students.