Clinical simulation and professional performance in health sciences students
Keywords:
clinical competence; patient simulation; professional competence; students, health occupationsAbstract
Introduction: Clinical simulation is a training strategy that promotes the integration of theory and practice in health education and enables the development of technical, communication, and decision-making skills in controlled and safe environments.
Objective: To describe the perception of health sciences students regarding the contribution of clinical simulation to their professional performance during practice.
Methods: A quantitative, observational, descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted in 47 health sciences students undertaking professional practice in a care center for people with severe physical and intellectual disabilities. A structured survey and a checklist validated by expert judgment were applied, with analysis based on descriptive statistics. Ethical principles were respected and informed consent was obtained.
Results: Participation in high- and low-fidelity simulation activities predominated. Most students perceived that this methodology strengthened their safety and self-efficacy in the care of real patients, improved communication with patients and healthcare teams, and enhanced performance during professional practice. Transfer to the care setting was heterogeneous: 19 students frequently applied what they had learned and 16 fell into negative categories.
Conclusions: Students perceived a favorable contribution of clinical simulation to their professional performance. The methodology constitutes a useful training tool for strengthening clinical and interpersonal competencies, with pending challenges in the transfer to highly complex care settings.
Downloads
References
1. Carey JM, Rossler K. The how when why of high fidelity simulation [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2023 [acceso: 24/04/2026]. Disponible en: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK559313/
2. Saleem M, Khan Z. Healthcare simulation: an effective way of learning in health care. Pak J Med Sci. 2023;39(4):1185-90. DOI: 10.12669/pjms.39.4.7145
3. Vangone I, Arrigoni C, Magon A, Conte G, Russo S, Belloni S, et al. The efficacy of high-fidelity simulation on knowledge and performance in undergraduate nursing students: an umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analysis. Nurse Educ Today. 2024;139:106231. DOI: 10.1016/j.nedt.2024.106231
4. Elendu C, Amaechi DC, Okatta AU, Amaechi EC, Elendu TC, Ezeh CP, et al. The impact of simulation-based training in medical education: a review. Medicine (Baltimore). 2024;103(27):e38813. DOI: 10.1097/MD.0000000000038813
5. Nair MA, Muthu P, Abuijlan IAM. The effectiveness of high-fidelity simulation on clinical competence among nursing students. SAGE Open Nurs. 2024;10:23779608241249357. DOI: 10.1177/23779608241249357
6. Daneshfar M, Moonaghi HK. The impact of clinical simulation on bridging the theory-practice gap in nursing education: a systematic review. BMC Med Educ. 2025;25(1):1216. DOI: 10.1186/s12909-025-07790-8
7. Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences. International ethical guidelines for health-related research involving humans. 4th ed. Geneva: CIOMS; 2016. DOI: 10.56759/rgxl7405
8. World Medical Association. WMA Declaration of Helsinki: ethical principles for medical research involving human participants [Internet]. Ferney-Voltaire: WMA; 2024 [acceso: 24/04/2026]. Disponible en: https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-helsinki/
9. Lanza-Postigo M, Abajas-Bustillo R, Martin-Melón R, Ruiz-Pellón N, Ortego-Maté C. The effectiveness of simulation in the acquisition of socioemotional skills related to health care: a systematic review of systematic reviews. Clin Simul Nurs. 2024;92:101547. DOI: 10.1016/j.ecns.2024.101547
10. Sezgin MG, Bektas H. Effectiveness of interprofessional simulation-based education programs to improve teamwork and communication for students in the healthcare profession: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Nurse Educ Today. 2023;120:105619. DOI: 10.1016/j.nedt.2022.105619
11. Chow KM, Ngan AHY, Chan CSM. Perception of simulation-based training as a replacement for clinical practice training among pre-licensure nursing students: a qualitative study. BMC Nurs. 2025;24(1):1456. DOI: 10.1186/s12912-025-04096-4
12. Zambrano Farias LK, Cabrera Olvera JL. Clinical simulation in health care training: barriers to efficacy and impact on health care safety. Nursing Depths Series. 2025;4:390. DOI: 10.56294/nds2025390
13. Sandoval-Cuellar C, Alfonso-Mora ML, Castellanos-Garrido AL, Villarraga-Nieto AP, Goyeneche-Ortegón RL, Acosta-Otalora ML, et al. Simulation in physiotherapy students for clinical decisions during interaction with people with low back pain: randomised controlled trial. BMC Med Educ. 2021;21(1):375. DOI: 10.1186/s12909-021-02812-7
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Isabel Yáñez Yáñez, Rafael Gonzalo Espejo Iglesias, Lizet Osorio Cerda, Tiare González Henríquez, Issis Núñez Fuentes
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors who have publications with this Journal accept the following terms:
- The authors will retain their copyright and guarantee the Journal the right of first publication of their work, which will simultaneously be subject to the Creative Commons Attribution License. The content presented here can be shared, copied and redistributed in any medium or format; Can be adapted, remixed, transformed or created from the material, using the following terms: Attribution (giving appropriate credit to the work, providing a link to the license, and indicating if changes have been made); non-commercial (you cannot use the material for commercial purposes) and share-alike (if you remix, transform or create new material from this work, you can distribute your contribution as long as you use the same license as the original work).
- The authors may adopt other non-exclusive license agreements for the distribution of the published version of the work (for example: depositing it in an institutional electronic archive or publishing it in a monographic volume) as long as the initial publication in this Journal is indicated.
- Authors are allowed and recommended to disseminate their work through the Internet (e.g., in institutional electronic archives or on their website) before and during the submission process, which can produce interesting exchanges and increase citations. of the published work.
