Evaluation of Ability to Have a Normal Birth Using Different Simulation Methods: A Randomized Controlled Trial

The midwifery profession is a combination of knowledge and skills. In this process, it is very important for educators to understand students' learning processes, know how to transfer practical applications to the clinical environment, and use different educational techniques. The increase in the number of students in midwifery education in Türkiye, the reduction of student density in hospitals especially during the pandemic period, limited suitable clinical practice areas and the low number of educators, patient safety, ethical and legal sanctions, etc. make it necessary to integrate different teaching techniques into education. Depending on these processes, educators should follow innovative educational techniques and strengthen the skills of students before they go to the clinic. In order to achieve these desired goals in students, simulation education techniques have been frequently used recently.

In the literature, simulation is defined as "a method that reflects a clinical situation as close to reality as possible and makes it easier to understand and manage when encountered in clinical practice". It is emphasized that simulated patient education reinforces theoretical knowledge and practice by providing students with a realistic clinical experience before they go to the clinic, is effective in gaining critical thinking, decision-making and psychomotor skills, and increases individual learning. In midwifery practice education, simulation can often be used to transfer knowledge, teach simple/complex technical skills, communication, teamwork and clinical decision-making processes.

In addition, simulation training has benefits in midwifery practices such as; Increasing their self-confidence, Developing clinical decision-making skills, Gaining experience by learning from their mistakes without harming patients, Reducing their anxiety about the clinic, Increasing the quality of their work, Achieving the ability to apply complete care, technical skills, decision-making, evaluation, teamwork and management skills .

Simulation is mostly preferred in the teaching of practical interventions. The acquisition of the ability to perform normal births, which is the basis of these practices, is one of the most important outcomes of the midwifery program.

However, the difficulties encountered during clinical education cause midwifery students to graduate without performing a sufficient number of independent normal births.The most important reason for these difficulties is the inadequacy of the application areas to meet the increasing number of students and the inadequacy of the number of women performing normal births due to the increasing number of cesarean births. However, in our country, midwifery students must fulfill the requirement of performing 40 normal births in order to graduate according to the provisions of the "Regulation on the Determination of Minimum Education Conditions for Medical, Nursing, Midwifery, Dentistry, Veterinary, Pharmacy and Architecture Education Programs" numbered 26775 and dated 2 February 2008.