Evaluation of students' perceived clinical competence and learning needs following an online virtual simulation education programme with debriefing during the COVID‐19 pandemic

Aims and objectives This study aimed to evaluate the effect of a virtual simulation education programme with debriefing in undergraduate nursing students. Perceived clinical competence and learning needs of students in a simulation environment were also measured. Background Evidence showed virtual simulation education programmes provided better knowledge acquisition. However, these studies to date did not incorporate virtual simulation in the combination of a debriefing model in nursing students. Design A one-group pre-test and post-test design. Methods 188 final year undergraduate nursing students participated in the study. Linear mixed model analysis was conducted to evaluate the effect of the programme. Results Students have perceived a significant improvement in clinical competence and nursing process. Self-efficacy has also boosted. Communication and critical thinking were applied better in the traditional clinical environment. Conclusion Perceived clinical competence of Chinese nursing students has significant improvements by using virtual simulation combining a debriefing model during the COVID-19 period. Virtual simulation met students' learning needs. Future studies should include a control group for comparison and long-term measurement. Relevance to clinical practice The study provided an innovative clinical learning pedagogy to serve as a potential alternative with traditional clinical practicum during the COVID-19 period as this is substantially limited.