Comparison of the Effect of Lecture and Simulation Teaching Methods on Nursing Students Knowledge, in Personal Protection Against Biological Agents of Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers

This study was performed to compare the effect of education involving lectures and simulation methods on nursing students’ knowledge about biological agents of hemorrhagic fevers. Hemorrhagic fevers are endemic infectious diseases in Iran. According to the list of biological agents published by the World Health Organization, the disease is likely to be used as a biological weapon. The World Health Organization recommends use of standard personal protective coating for health workers when caring for patients with hemorrhagic fevers.
This study aimed to investigate the effect of self-protection education against hemorrhagic fevers, on nursing students of AJA University of Medical Sciences.
This study was an educational trial that was conducted during the summer of 2016 in the School of Nursing of AJA. In this study, 60 students were examined. After obtaining a written consent from the participants, they were randomly divided to two groups, traditional and simulation training. The data collection instrument was a researcher-made questionnaire. Research during the pretest, training implementation and posttest intervention in the two groups was conducted. Data was analyzed with the SPSS version 21 software and using paired t test and independent t test.
Knowledge of the studied subjects had no significant difference before and after the intervention (P>0.05). The knowledge average scores of the two groups receiving lecture training and simulation methods were 29.70 ± 1.622 and 29.97 ± 2.008 with independent t test and P>0.05 was not significant. However, education made a significant difference, regardless of the method, in mean scores before and after the intervention.
Discussion and The results indicate that the two methods were equally effective for improving students’ knowledge.