IOSR Journal of Nursing and Health Science (IOSR-JNHS) e-ISSN : 2320–1959.p- ISSN: 2320–1940 Volume 7, Issue 6 Ver. VIII. (Nov.-Dec.2018), PP 66-69 www.iosrjournals.org DOI: 10.9790/1959-0706086669 www.iosrjournals.org 66 | Page Opinions of Nursing Students on Professional Skills Laboratory Serpil Sü 1 , Nesime Demirören 2 1 (Faculty of Nursing, Necmettin Erbakan University, Turkey) 2 (Faculty of Nursing, Necmettin Erbakan University, Turkey) Corresponding Author:Serpil Sü Abstract: Objective: This study was conducted to evaluate the opinions of nursing students on the Professional Skills Laboratory (PSL). Materials and Method: The sample of this descriptive study consisted of 108 first-year nursing students who took the Fundamental Nursing course and agreed to participate in the study. The study was conducted at the Nursing Department of a Faculty of Health Sciences in the Central Anatolia Region of Turkey. After obtaining the institutional permission, the data of the study were collected using a questionnaire form between June 3-5, 2016. The data were assessed using number, percentage, mean and standard deviation. Findings: The mean age of the students was 19.0±0.85. When their opinions on PSL were examined, of the students, 97.2% found the physical environment of PSL insufficient and 42.6% of them expressed “small and airless” as the reason of insufficiency. Of the students, 80.6% found the equipment used insufficient and 74.1% of them expressed “low number of equipment” as the reason of insufficiency. 45.4% of the students stated as a positive side that they had the opportunity to practice the skills and 47.3% stated as a negative side that the laboratories were “small, dark, airless”. Conclusion: According to our study findings, it was seen that nursing students found the physical background of PSL and equipment used insufficient. Keywords: Professional skills laboratory, nursing education, nursing student --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date of Submission: 29-11-2018 Date of acceptance: 12-12-2018 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I. Introduction The Fundamental Nursing course covers targets for cognitive, affective and psychomotor learning domains. Nursing related basic concepts, theories, principles, and methods are taught in this course (1). The course is carried out by starting with the theoretical explanation of the subject and presentation using the demonstration method in the classroom environment. After that, the skills are practiced on models in the Professional Skills Laboratory (PSL) and finally a clinical practice is performed (2,3). Psychomotor skills are taught in the PSL, which has an important place in the Fundamental Nursing course (4). These laboratories have a setting that is very similar to the hospital environment and have a controlled structure. In these laboratories, students do not have worry for harming the patient and practices which are limited in terms of experiencing in a clinical environment can be performed. Teaching is provided with teaching methods such as demonstration, role-playing using equipment such as models (2,5). PSL fills the gap between the clinical and theoretical practice. It helps students to prepare for a real hospital environment, to provide self-learning and to put the learned knowledge, skills, and attitudes into practice (6,7). It is reported that working with models that are very similar to the human body in the PSL accelerates the learning, creates a safe environment for students who have not been practiced in the clinic due to the lack of real patients, improves students' communication skills and reduces anxiety before the clinical practice (4,5). In our country, there are few studies on this subject. In these studies, it was determined that skill practices given in the laboratory and classroom were useful for students (8), that students learned better since they practiced by themselves (95.2%), and that they were satisfied with the skills training (93.7%) (6). In the quasi-experimental study conducted by Sarmasoğlu et al. (2016), the students in the control group have implemented laboratory practices on models and the students in the experimental group implemented on a standard patient/hybrid simulation. As a result of the study, it was determined that the students have not felt comfortable in the practice implemented on a standard patient (3). It is very important for students to pay attention to the patient safety in the interventions implemented on a real patient in the hospital environment in terms of patient rights. This has increased the value of PSL and revealed the necessity for the appropriate structure and equipment in these laboratories (2,9,10). However, the PSL in our faculty is not at the desired level in terms of structure and equipment. Therefore, in our study, it was aimed to assess the opinions of nursing students on the PSL in order to ensure the improvement and reconstruction of our present PSL.