title: Critical thinking among RN-to-BSN distance students participating in human patient simulation.
abstract: Simulation is a strategy increasingly being used to promote critical thinking skills among baccalaureate nursing (BSN) students. It has been used to a limited extent with RN-to-BSN students, many of whom take their educational program through distance delivery. The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand the critical thinking of distance RN-to-BSN students who participated in a simulation designed with interactive questions. Students taking the program, either by live televised broadcast (educational television [ETV]) or by online instruction, participated in the simulation. The ETV student simulation was facilitated from a broadcast studio by faculty, whereas Internet students completed the simulation by DVD. Postsimulation students participated in debriefing sessions, which were audiotaped by ETV students and completed by Internet students using a Blackboard discussion board. Data were analyzed using Scheffer and Rubenfeld's conceptualization of critical thinking. Findings revealed that simulation used by distance delivery cultivated critical thinking in RN-to-BSN students.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health and Social Development, University of British Columbia Okanagan, British Columbia, Canada. kathy.rush@ubc.ca
authors.forename: Kathy L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Rush
authors.forename: Cathy E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Dyches
authors.forename: Susannah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Waldrop
authors.forename: Angie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Davis
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003071:Cognition; D003194:Computer-Assisted Instruction; D020375:Education, Distance; D004508:Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate; D004521:Educational Measurement; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009730:Nursing Assessment; D018794:Problem-Based Learning; D013690:Television