Effectiveness of simulation in teaching immunization in nursing: a randomized clinical trial

OBJECTIVE: to evaluate the effectiveness of the clinical simulation on the cognitive performance of nursing students in adult immunization scenarios in the context of Primary Health Care. METHOD: a controlled and randomized pre-test and post-test clinical trial applied to random intervention and control groups. 34 undergraduate nursing students were selected and divided into two groups: classes with active participation of students and skills training (control); and classes with active participation of students, skills training, and clinical simulation (intervention). RESULTS: the students in the intervention group performed better than those in the control group in the four assessments of cognitive performance, with statistical significance in the assessments of immediate (p=0.031) and late (1-20 days) (p=0.031) knowledge. CONCLUSION: from the simulation, students learn more in the short and medium terms. The information learned is retained for longer and the students are better prepared for the professional practice. Universal Trial Number: u1111-1195-2580