Oxford Textbook of Palliative Nursing. 5th revised edition

Background: Simulation is a teaching strategy that may help the nursing educators prepare the future nurses to practice in a real environment. It is a teaching strategy that provides students with artificial representation of a complex real-life for enabling them to learn in a safe environment. Based on its degree of realism; it ranges from low to high fidelity. Simulation played a critical role during COVID-19 pandemic. With resources limitation, presented safety concerns and the need for social distancing, simulation became a vital tool that provided solutions to challenges faced by students and staff during clinical training. Purpose: assess the effect of simulation-based education during COVID-19 on communication skills and clinical competence of maternity nursing students. Methods: A quasi-experimental design (study & control group) was used. Sample: A purposive sample was used in conducting the study. Sample size: was 100 students from third academic year students at Faculty of Nursing, Menoufia University. Instruments: three instruments were used for data collection (1) Semi-structured interviewing questionnaire, (2) Communication skills measurement tool and (3) Clinical competence measurement tool. Results: communication skills and clinical competence scores of the study group were higher than the control group after the intervention. Conclusion: The current study findings supported the study hypothesis.