Views of nursing students on using standardized patient and in-class case analysis in ethics education

Abstract

Background: It is important to use student-centred, active teaching strategies in ethics education to develop students' skills in dealing with ethical problems.

Objectives: This study sought the opinions, suggestions, and thoughts of students receiving ethics education with in-class case analysis (ICCA) and standardized patient (SP) practice.

Research design and participants: A phenomenological and interpretive design based on qualitative interviews was used. The sample was 86 nursing students in 8 focus groups.

Results: The mean age of participants was 21.40 ± 0.844, and most of the participants were female (n = 76). Themes obtained from the student interviews were 1) impact on knowledge, skills and emotions, 2) learning process, 3) decision making process, 4) recommendations for the future practice.

Conclusions: The students stated that both teaching methods were beneficial in ethics education; they understood the subject better, gained multi-directional thinking skills, and their awareness of ethical problems increased. Thus, ICCA and SP practice are teaching methods that should be used in nursing ethics education.

Keywords: Case analysis; Ethics education; Nursing students; Standardized patient.