Effectiveness of telesimulation on cardiorespiratory arrest for nursing students.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness of telesimulation on cardiorespiratory arrest to improve the performance of nursing students.

METHODS: This was an experimental study, whose sample consisted of 30 undergraduate nursing students from a Brazilian university. It was structured from two groups: an experimental (n=15) and a control (n=15). For both groups, expository classes and skills training were held. For the experimental group, a virtual clinical simulation scenario was implemented. Before the beginning of the interventions, a pre-test was applied and, after the end of this, a post-test was applied to evaluate the students' gain of knowledge and skills.

RESULTS: From the analysis of the total correct answers and the scores obtained in the pre-test and post-test, it was found that there was an improvement in the performance of both study groups. Regarding the averages of the points obtained, there was a statistically significant difference between the groups (p=0.001). The post-test score was significantly higher than the pre-test score in the intervention group (p=0.001).

CONCLUSION: The virtual scenario developed proved to be superior in improving the performance of nursing students in managing cardiorespiratory arrest when compared to traditional teaching methods.