Keywords
Psychomotor Skills
Nursing Education
Skill Retention
Clinical Training
Simulation Learning
How to Cite
Abstract
Background: A development of psychomotor skills is a significant aspect of nursing education, which directly affects clinical competence and patient safety. Conventional forms of instruction have not been limiting the provision of monotonous, appealing, and immersive training experiences required towards the mastering and retention of skills. Augmented Reality (AR) has introduced itself as a potentially powerful educational technology with the potential to increase student engagement with instructional content using a real-time feedback and display.
Aim: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of AR-based training on the retention of psychomotor skills among undergraduate nursing students compared to traditional instructional methods.
Methods: The research design of a quasi-experimental study was conducted in Zalan College of Nursing, Swat, among 60 final-year nursing students. There were two groups (n=30) of participants (AR-based training group and control group). Pre and post-training measurements were used to compare the performance between the two groups in four different skill areas: procedural accuracy, step ordering, safety adherence, and task duration. Group differences were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics with t-tests of independence.
Results: The AR group showed significantly higher post-training scores across all skill domains: procedure accuracy (8.80 ± 0.78 vs. 6.95 ± 0.89), step sequencing (8.50 ± 0.81 vs. 6.80 ± 1.05), safety compliance (8.90 ± 0.68 vs. 7.25 ± 0.87), and task completion time (8.40 ± 0.74 vs. 6.70 ± 1.02), with all p-values < 0.01. The total mean score was also significantly higher in the AR group (34.60 ± 1.86) than in the control group (27.70 ± 2.40).
Conclusion: AR training can be of great help in ratcheting up the level of psychomotor skills retention by nursing students and must be considered being introduction into nursing curricula as a method that can assure students of needed clinical preparedness.