Enhancing Labor and Delivery Learning Experiences Through Simulation

BackgroundMaternal–child educators are seeking creative solutions to bridge didactic instruction to the clinical setting. Students have limited opportunities to provide hands-on obstetric care.MethodA pre-experimental design was used to assess junior-level baccalaureate nursing students' ability to transfer previous labor and delivery knowledge and clinical judgment to a simulated learning environment. A checklist was developed for nurse raters to evaluate team performance during the simulation learning experience.ResultsThe percentage of agreement for each pair of raters evaluating team performance using the video checklist during the simulation ranged from 72% to 82%, with kappas ranging from 0.40 to 0.62. Preliminary data show the checklist may be a viable option to evaluate clinical performance in a simulated labor and delivery environment.ConclusionFuture studies are needed to further evaluate learning strategies and outcomes using performance checklists.