Using medical incidents to teach: effects of vicarious experience on nursing students' self-efficacy in performing urinary catheterization.

This study compared the effects of instruction on nursing students' self-efficacy in urinary catheterization, using positively and negatively worded examples after vicarious experience of a medical incident. Nursing students (n = 128) completed measures on urinary catheterization performance, general self-efficacy, and self-efficacy in urinary catheterization before being assigned to one of three groups: the instruction with negative examples (NE), the instruction with positive examples (PE), or the control group. Each group read the same medical incident. The instruction with NE and PE groups read negatively and positively worded examples, respectively, about urinary catheterization, and the control group read a summary of the incident. All students indicated their self-efficacy in urinary catheterization. A statistically significant increase in self-efficacy was noted in the PE and NE groups but was significantly higher in the NE group, compared with the control group. Implications for nurse educators using medical incidents to increase nursing students' self-efficacy are discussed.