Nursing Students’ Self-Efficacy in Cardiac Critical Care: A Novel Pre-Internship Educational Package

Abstract

Clinical teaching is the core of nursing education and together with the decrease in clinical learning opportunities should be top priority for research attention. This study aimed to determine the effects of an educational pre-internship package on nursing students’ self-efficacy to deliver critical care. This controlled experimental study was conducted among 37 nursing students selected by using the census sampling method. The educational intervention was performed for three days in a case group, before beginning the internship. The data were collected using a demographic information questionnaire, the self-efficacy-in-clinical-performance questionnaire, and 10 clinical scenarios. The self-efficacy of the test group was examined at baseline and after the intervention, and then compared with the control group. The data were analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 24, through an independent t-test and paired t-test. The results showed that the intervention resulted in a significant difference (p < 0.001) in the total score of self-efficacy between the case (161.26 ± 6.07) and control (119.72 ± 10.13) groups .In addition, the correlation between self-efficacy and score of the students’ performance was significantly positive (89%, p < 0.001). Also, there was a series of significant differences (p < 0.001) in the mean scores of examining the patient, the nursing diagnosis, care planning, implementing the care plan, and assessing the care plan between cases and controls. The results of this study indicated that the educational pre-internship package for cardiac critical care has a positive effect on promoting nursing students’ self-efficacy. These findings can be used as a strategy to enhance students’ competency before entering the internship and graduation.