Acquiring clinical reasoning skills via virtual simulation in nursing education: A qualitative study

Objective: To explore students’ perspectives on clinical reasoning development and their experiences of learning through virtual simulation.
Methods: An exploratory, descriptive qualitative study design was used. Twenty-eight nursing students studying in a bachelor’s program received a 2-hour virtual simulation training with a debriefing session. Six semi-structured focus group interviews were conducted after the training. Thematic analysis was used to explore and analyze the students’ perspectives on clinical reasoning development and their experiences of learning through simulation training.
Results: Three main themes emerged: engagement in and satisfaction with learning, enhancement of clinical reasoning skills, and preparedness for clinical practice.
Conclusions: Virtual simulation training with debriefing sessions increased students’ engagement in and satisfaction with learning, developed their clinical reasoning skills, and enabled them to reflect on their own preparation for clinical practice. Our findings suggest that virtual simulation could be adopted in current nursing curricula to enhance the competencies of future nurses.