Inclusion Criteria:

• Being a third-year nursing student,
• Not having previously taken the Pediatric Nursing course,
• Not having practiced in pediatric clinics,
• Not being a graduate of a health vocational high school,
• Volunteering to participate in the study.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Not participating in the laboratory practice,
• Not completing all forms to be used in the study,
• Withdrawing from the study at any stage,
• Working as a nurse

Inclusion Criteria:

• Being a third-year nursing student,
• Not having previously taken the Pediatric Nursing course,
• Not having practiced in pediatric clinics,
• Not being a graduate of a health vocational high school,
• Volunteering to participate in the study.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Not participating in the laboratory practice,
• Not completing all forms to be used in the study,
• Withdrawing from the study at any stage,
• Working as a nurse

Introduction, warm-up, and presentation of the training program (30 min.), taking vital signs in infants and children (45 min.), meeting the hygiene needs of newborns/children (oral care, umbilical cord care, body bathing, perineal cleaning) (45 min.), pediatric nursing care skills (taking blood and urine samples from infants and children, oxygen administration) (45 min.), and pediatric medication preparation and administration skills (oral, IM, IV medication preparation and administration) (45 min.). Each laboratory skill for the course is organized as 45 min of training and a 15-min break. Each skill was demonstrated to students by researchers individually on a simulation model according to cases prepared for simulation within the time allocated to it. Subsequently, the procedures within the case were performed piece by piece by different students under the guidance of a researcher, and feedback was provided on any missing or incorrect points.

The primary outcome of the study was perceived pediatric nursing competence. Pediatric Nursing Competency Scale was used for evaluation.

Bektas et al. (2000) developed this scale to assess nursing students' competency in pediatric nursing. The scale consists of 39 items across eight subscales. The items on the five-point Likert scale are answered as follows: 1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = undecided, 4 = agree, 5 = strongly agree. The Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient was found to be higher than 0.80 for the scale and its subdimensions. The lowest possible score on the scale is 39, and the highest possible score is 195. It is thought that as the score on the scale increases, students' pediatric nursing competence increases (Bektas et al., 2020).

The secondary outcomes included self-efficacy, clinical comfort, anxiety, and attitudes toward vital signs monitoring. The following tools were used in the study: Vital Signs Scale (V-Scale), developed initially by Mok et al. (2015), was further adapted to Turkish by Ertug (2018) (Ertug, 2018; Mok et al., 2015).

Self-Efficacy Scale for Nursing Students in Medication Administration in Children:

The scale was developed by Bektaş et al. based on pediatric medication administration guidelines and studies conducted in the literature on medication administration in children by nursing students.

Pediatric Nursing Student Clinical Comfort and Anxiety Assessment Tool:

Al-Qaaydeh & Lassche Macintosh (2012) first developed this tool to determine the comfort and anxiety levels of nursing students entering the pediatric clinic for the first time (Al-Qaaydeh et al., 2012). Arslan et al. (2018) conducted a study on the validity and reliability of the scale in Turkish.