Clinical Simulation of Complementary Therapy in Nursing Education: An Integrative Review

Aim: This study aimed to explore the clinical simulation models used in each type of complementary therapy, their advantages and disadvantages, as well as the resulting implications in nursing education.
Design and methods: The study was done by means of an integrative review. Journal searches were performed using the LILACS, PubMed, SciELO, CINAHL, SCOPUS, Google Scholar, ProQuest, and EMBASE databases for publications between 2015 and 2021, with full text in English. The Whittemore and Knafl frameworks guided the review, and for quality control, we used the Clinical Appraisal Prospective Study (CAPS) instrument.
Results: We identified 15 articles indicating that each type of complementary therapy that is combined into a different clinical simulation model can facilitate the learning process, understanding, and practise of the nursing profession. The simulation (videos, virtual reality and high-quality manikins) makes students more enthusiastic and not bored; moreover, it enables students to easily understand and innovate in studying complementary therapies.
Conclusion: The implementation of complementary therapy simulations has put forward technology for students to easily understand and study various alternative treatments, supporting the implementation of a new curriculum in