Nursing Students' Perspectives on Clean Intermittent Catheterisation With Hybrid Simulation: A Qualitative Study

What are the nursing students' perspectives on clean intermittent catheterisation applied with hybrid simulation carried out with standard patients? Nursing students must develop clean intermittent catheterisation application skills before graduation. They have limited opportunities to practise these skills in a clinical setting. The literature shows that the studies examining the hybrid simulation training reported that participants' critical thinking, clinical decision-making, communication skills, and self-confidence improved, that they felt like real nurses during the simulation training, and that their self-confidence in terms of being able to deal with related scenarios while working in the clinical setting after graduation improved. The qualitative research design was used in the study. The students (n = 20) participated in face-to-face focus groups in December 2022. Five themes (i.e., emotions, outcomes gained by students, challenges with standard patient, fidelity perceptions and transfer to clinical practice) were determined in line with the study objectives. In the hybrid simulations carried out with the standard patients, nursing students generally reported that they had positive experiences. Accordingly, nursing students are recommended to use hybrid simulations for standard patients in applications such as clean intermittent catheterisation where patient privacy is at the forefront.