ArticleBMC nursing2022
Virtual patient simulation to improve nurses' relational skills in a continuing education context: a convergent mixed methods study.
Article in BMC nursing, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 38 citations in OpenAlex.
- Early Development of Clinical Reasoning Through Virtual Patient Simulation: Nursing Students' Perceptions of Collaborative Decision-Making.Nursing reports (Pavia, Italy) · 2026Article
- Virtual reality simulation to teach communication for undergraduate nursing students: a scoping review.BMC medical education · 2025Article
- Virtual Simulation Tools for Communication Skills Training in Health Care Professionals: Literature Review.JMIR medical education · 2025Review
- Increasing Realism and Variety of Virtual Patient Dialogues for Prenatal Counseling Education Through a Novel Application of ChatGPT: Exploratory Observational Study.JMIR medical education · 2024Observational
- The mediating effect of personality on mental workload and perceived professional benefits of nurses in East China.BMC nursing · 2023Article
- Designing Practical Motivational Interviewing Training for Mental Health Practitioners Implementing Behavioral Lifestyle Interventions: Protocol for 3 Pilot Intervention Studies.JMIR research protocols · 2023Article
- Effectiveness and experiences of the Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO) Model in developing competencies among healthcare professionals: a mixed methods systematic review protocol.Systematic reviews · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundEffective provider-patient communication is crucial to the delivery of high-quality care. Communication roadblock such as righting reflex is widely observed among providers and can lead to relational disengagement. In previous work, nurses felt ill-equipped to communicate effectively with HIV-positive patients to support medication adherence. Providing nurses with continuing education opportunities to improve their relational skills is a major target for optimizing the quality of care. Virtual patient simulation is one promising strategy that needs to be evaluated among graduate nurses. This study aimed to assess the acceptability of a virtual patient simulation to improve nurses' relational skills in a continuing education context.
methodsWe conducted a convergent mixed methods study by combining a quantitative pre-experimental, one-group post-test design and a qualitative exploratory study. We used convenience and snowball sampling approaches to select registered nurses (n = 49) working in Quebec, Canada. Participants completed an online sociodemographic questionnaire, consulted the automated virtual patient simulation (informed by motivational interviewing), and filled out an online post-test survey. Descriptive statistics (mean, SD, median, interquartile range) were used to present quantitative findings. From the 27 participants who completed the simulation and post-test survey, five participated in a focus group to explore their learning experience. The discussion transcript was subjected to thematic analysis. At the final stage of the study, we used a comparison strategy for the purpose of integrating the quantitative and qualitative results.
resultsNurses perceived the simulation to be highly acceptable. They rated the global system quality and the technology acceptance with high scores. They reported having enjoyed the simulation and recommended other providers use it. Four qualitative themes were identified: motivations to engage in the simulation-based research; learning in a realistic, immersive, and non-judgmental environment; perceived utility of the simulation; and perceived difficulty in engaging in the simulation-based research.
conclusionsThe simulation contributed to knowledge and skills development on motivational interviewing and enhanced nurses' self-confidence in applying relational skills. Simulation holds the potential to change practice, as nurses become more self-reflective and aware of the impact of their relational skills on patient care.
trial registrationISRCTN18243005 , retrospectively registered on July 3 2020.
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