In the process of teaching personnel protective equipment (PPE) use with the scenario-based high-fidelity simulation mannikin, a simulation application was made with 26 students. The simulation scenario was implemented with 13 groups consisting of 3 students each playing different roles (nurse, head nurse, patient relative). Throughout the scenario, the students who played the role of the nurse and the head nurse simulated the PPE wearing-removal practice in a way to cover all steps of the process (preparation, implementation, and evaluation). During the implementation of the scenario, the student playing the role of the patient's relative provided guiding clues to the nurse when needed. Debriefing was started right after the simulation. Frequency of administration the implementation of each group is once and the debriefing stage where the learning process was reinforced and lasted 30 minutes.

The 26 students who constituted the control group performed the personnel protective equipment (PPE) wearing-removal practice once under the supervision of the researcher at the Fundamentals of Nursing skills laboratory. Frequency of administration the implementation of each group is once. The students applied experiential learning principles through active experience and reflective observation.

A high-fidelity simulator was developed to teach skills in nursing education, and it is sized to represent an adult male patient. The mannequin can be controlled using a computer program, it can breathe, and its vital signs can be monitored using a bedside monitor.

Procedural Steps Checklist was used to assess nursing wearing-removing skills. The checklist for PPE wearing-removal skills was created by the researchers based on their review of the relevant literature (Göçmen Baykara et al. 2020; Patricia Potter et al. 2020; World Health Organization 2021). Opinions were received from five faculty members with expertise in Fundamentals of Nursing for the checklist, and Kendall's W coefficient for the checklist was found as 0.776 (p < .001). The Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the checklist was calculated as 0.64, which showed a moderate level of internal consistency. The checklist to be used for assessment was finalized, and it consisted of 17 items. Each item was scored as 0 or 1, and the minimum and maximum total scores of the checklist were 0 and 17. When the participant performed the procedural step, they received 1 point for the related item, while they received 0 points when they failed to perform the step.

VAS was used to determine which model was more satisfactory to nursing students. VAS was used to measure the satisfaction levels of the participants based on their own assessment between "0 (not satisfied at all) and 10 (very satisfied)".

Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S) was used to determine the COVID-19 fear levels of nursing students. This scale, which was developed by Ahorsu et al. (2020), was adapted to Turkish culture by Bakioğlu, Korkmaz, and Ercan (2020). It is a unidimensional scale consisting of seven items. The item-total correlation coefficients of the scale were reported to vary from 0.47 to 0.56, while its factor loads were reported to vary from 0.66 to 0.74. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the scale was reported as α = 0.82. A set of validity and reliability analyses was carried out for the five-point Likert-type scale in its Turkish adaptation study. The authors conducting the study reported Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the scale as 0.88. Other authors also adapted the scale to Turkish (Satıcı et al. 2020). Considering the results of adaptation studies, it may be stated that it is a valid and reliable scale (Ahorsu et al. 2022; Bakioğlu, Korkmaz, and Ercan 2021).