Background:
Simulation constitutes a teaching method and a strategy for learning and understanding theoretical knowledge and skills in the nursing and medical field (Koukourikos, Tsaloglidou, Kourkouta, Papathanasiou, Iliadis, Fratzana, Panagiotou, 2021). Simulation in nursing education has been demonstrated to significantly enhance nursing students' competencies and the overall quality of nursing education (Msn & Arulappan, 2020). An analysis of the scientific literature review is important to analyse the competences that nursing students acquire through simulation learning.

Aim:
The aim is to identify students' competences through a simulation-based learning experience to assess the effectiveness of simulation in nurse education.

Materials and methods:
In order to analyse the competences acquired by students through simulation learning and to evaluate the effectiveness of simulation learning in the nurse education process, Medline and PubMed databases were searched for literature sources. The scientific literature analysed was up to 5 years old, in English. Search words: simulation in nursing education, simulation-based education and nursing, simulation-based nursing education and competences, simulation-based learning and nursing. According to the exclusion and inclusion criteria, 25 scientific articles were included and analysed in the systematic review.

Results:
Simulation learning develops students' competences to understand their own and other health professionals' roles and responsibilities in the delivery of health care. The simulation learning experience increased students' self-confidence and overall perception of learning: confidence in their ability to prioritise care and interventions; developing self-confidence in interacting with the patient; confidence in their abilities to teach the patient about their disease/condition and interventions; confidence in their abilities to communicate information to the healthcare team confidence in using evidence-based practice to provide nursing care. Through the simulation learning experience, students improved their clinical decision-making skills; their ability to react to changes in the patient's condition; and their competences in clinical assessment. A systematic analysis of the scientific literature revealed how students transferred learning experiences from simulation training to clinical practice.

Conclusions:
Simulated learning experiences foster the development of competences needed by nurses. The evidence and potential for using simulation training in undergraduate curricula to prepare students for a rapidly changing healthcare environment is undeniable. Simulation is an essential teaching method that can help students become professionals capable of delivering care that is patient-centred, safe and meets the highest standardsHowever, a more sustainable, coherent and strategic approach is needed to implement quality simulation initiatives in nursing programmes. Based on this information, simulation should be considered as a teaching methodology in nursing curricula. Further research is needed in this area to evaluate the development of simulation training scenarios, the training of simulation trainers and other training using simulation methods.

Keywords: Experiential learning, simulation-based learning, nursing education, competences.