I was asked to weigh in on this today. What would you say?

In the following, is it "produce" or "produces"?

"...which concluded that substituting high quality simulation experiences for up to half of traditional clinical hours produce(s) comparable end of program educational outcomes to those students whose experiences are mostly just traditional clinical hours and produce(s) new graduates that are ready for clinical practice."

Boy, what a mouthful.

The first should be produces (substitution produces). The second is ambiguous. If the verb goes with experiences, it should be produce, but if it goes with substitution, it should be produces. I'm having a hard time deciding which way it is. I read it one way, then the other. It seems to me the last part of the sentence, "and produce(s) new graduates that are ready for clinical practice," is unnecessary and just muddies up the sentence. Why not just end the sentence after hours? The traditional teaching method obviously produced graduates. If the method involving simulation is comparable, then it also must produce graduates. Then you would get

"...which concluded that substituting high quality simulation experiences for up to half of traditional clinical hours produces comparable end of program educational outcomes to those students whose experiences are mostly just traditional clinical hours."

I told her both should be produces because they go with substitution, but you make a good point.

And...I agree about the "mouthful" and confusion. I was a bit surprised. This was a press release written by one of my editors - who dogs me about the use of "which/that" or ending sentences with prepositions, etc. And "mostly just?" Were this mine, it would be sliced and diced!