Competency of nursing students on postoperative care of CABG patients: Addressing gaps through simulation.

Background: Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery is a critical intervention aimed at alleviating angina and reducing mortality risk associated with coronary artery disease. Nursing competency plays a vital role in providing effective postoperative care to patients who have undergone CABG.

Materials and methods: A quasi-experimental design was adopted for the study. Data was collected from 110 nursing students studying in Maharishi Markandeshwar (Deemed to be University), Ambala, Haryana. The nursing students in the experimental group underwent a simulation-based learning (SBL) program comprising of 1 h theoretical instruction and 20 minutes hands-on session on postoperative care of CABG patients through simulation.

Results: The study findings show that the mean post-test competency (61.81 ± 3.01), knowledge (21.74 ± 1.90), skills (32.79 ± 1.93), and clinical decision-making ability (7.34 ± 0.87) scores of nursing students in the experimental group were higher than the mean-post-test competency (35.79 ± 5.67), knowledge (15.75 ± 2.45), skills (17.33 ± 4.37), and clinical decision-making ability (2.65 ± 1.24) scores of comparison group.

Conclusion: SBL on postoperative care of CABG patients was effective in enhancing the competency of nursing students. Simulation can be used as an effective pedagogical strategy in nursing education for teaching postoperative care of CABG patients.