Learning From Their Mistakes: Exploring Clinical Experiences of Nursing Students After Simulation Mishaps

New graduate nurses must be prepared to practice competently with adequate clinical judgment in an environment where best practices in healthcare are constantly evolving in an effort to ensure patient safety and positive patient outcomes. The focus on restructuring nursing education to improve nurse competency and preparedness for practice has been a key component. High fidelity simulation (HFS) is a pedagogical tool gaining popularity in nursing education as it has been recognized that HFS would train novice practitioners, build problem solving, and crisis management, which would reduce the incidence of medical errors; thereby, improving patient safety (IOM, 1999).;The purpose of this study was to examine how making a mistake in simulation impacts the clinical experiences of nursing students. Using a qualitative approach, the researcher conducted two focus groups of undergraduate Bachelors of Science in Nursing (BSN) students to ask questions about their experiences in simulation and in clinical. Content analysis of focus group responses indicate that students learn from the mistakes they make in simulation and in clinical rotations. Mistakes serve a purpose in the learning process of nursing students. Specifically, mistakes in simulation can prevent mistakes in high stakes clinical situations.