Assessing the Satisfaction with knowledge transferring in Clinical Simulation: Development of the Clinical Simulation Learning Satisfaction Scale
This study developed and validated the Clinical Simulation Learning Satisfaction Scale, a reliable eight-item instrument, to effectively assess nursing students' satisfaction with knowledge transfer from clinical simulation to real healthcare settings.
Original paper licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). This is an AI-generated explanation of the paper below. It is not written or endorsed by the authors. For technical accuracy, refer to the original paper. Read full disclaimer
In the training of nurses, there is a constant challenge: how to prepare students for the high-stakes reality of patient care without risking harm to actual people. For decades, educators have turned to clinical simulation, a method where students practice on lifelike mannequins or interact with actors playing patients in controlled scenarios. This approach allows learners to make mistakes, refine their technical skills, and build confidence in a safe environment before they ever touch a real human being. The core idea is that these immersive experiences create a bridge between classroom theory and the hospital floor. However, a critical question remains for educators and institutions: does the satisfaction a student feels during a simulation session actually translate to their ability to perform well when they are finally caring for real patients? While many tools exist to measure how much a student enjoys a specific simulation class, few instruments track whether that positive feeling helps them apply what they learned when the pressure is real and the stakes are high.
This is the specific gap a team of researchers from Spanish universities sought to fill. They set out to create and test a new measurement tool, a questionnaire designed not to judge the simulation itself, but to measure a student's satisfaction with how well the knowledge gained in those simulations transferred to their actual clinical work. The researchers, working with nursing students across two universities during the 2023-24 academic year, developed what they call the Clinical Simulation Learning Satisfaction Scale. Their goal was to move beyond asking "Did you like the simulation?" to asking "Did what you learned in the simulation help you feel more satisfied and capable when you were treating real patients?"
To build this tool, the team began by gathering a panel of fifteen experts, including university professors and seasoned clinical educators with at least fifteen years of experience. Through a structured process of consultation, these experts helped refine an initial list of thirteen questions down to a more focused set. They also added open-ended questions, allowing students to share their thoughts in their own words about what worked and what could be improved. The resulting instrument was then tested with a group of twenty nursing students to ensure the questions were clear and easy to understand. Once the wording was finalized, the researchers administered the survey to a larger group of 192 students who had both participated in simulation sessions and completed their required clinical placements.
The analysis of the data revealed a clear and consistent picture. The final version of the scale consisted of eight specific questions and three open-ended prompts. When the researchers examined how well the questions hung together, they found the tool was highly reliable, meaning it produced stable and consistent results. The statistical tests confirmed that the scale measured a single, unified concept: the student's sense of satisfaction regarding the transfer of their simulation skills to real-world practice. The data showed that the questions effectively captured this experience, with the single factor identified in the analysis explaining nearly half of the variation in how students responded. This simplicity is significant; it suggests that the scale does not need to be overly complex to be effective. It offers a straightforward way to gauge whether the immersive learning experience is truly paying off in the clinical setting.
The researchers also checked if the scale remained stable over time. They asked a smaller group of students to take the survey again two weeks after the first time, and the results were nearly identical, proving that the tool measures a genuine feeling rather than a fleeting mood. The study concluded that this new scale is a valid and practical instrument for nursing programs. By using it, educators can better understand how their simulation training impacts student confidence and performance in real healthcare environments. Rather than just knowing that students enjoy a simulation, institutions can now measure whether that enjoyment correlates with a deeper sense of preparedness and satisfaction when applying those skills to actual patient care, providing a clearer path for improving nursing education.
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