Effectiveness of using a simulation combined with online learning approach to develop discharge teaching skills

Background Despite evidence of the impact of discharge teaching on patient outcomes, nursing students are poorly prepared in the pedagogical skills necessary for their role as patient and family educators in clinical practice. This study evaluated the effectiveness of simulation combined with online learning to improve nursing students’ discharge teaching skills. Methods The module included simulations before and after an online module on patient/family teaching for hospital discharge. Evaluation measures were student and independent rater evaluations using the Quality of Discharge Teaching Scale- Evaluation form (QDTS-E). Results Students (n = 153) improved their performance on both content and delivery subscales of the QDTS-E by 20% (student self-evaluations) and 18% (independent raters). However, correlations between student and rater scores were low (r = 0.08-0.22). Conclusion Use of simulation with online learning in a discharge teaching module can help students build patient education skills to improve post-discharge patient outcomes, contributing to national health priorities to reduce hospital readmissions. With further refinement and testing, the learning module and QDTS-E evaluation form may also be useful for evaluation and continuing education of clinical nursing staff.