Clinical Simulation Training

Whats Is The Evidence, Does In Situ Sim Better Than Class Room Teaching?

Clinical education is the name given to clinical educational materials, resources and teaching which is delivered across healthcare organizations and clinical settings. Clinical simulation training is a form of clinical education which is delivered using simulated patient and patient scenario alternatives, in order to tackle the issue of medical malpractices and errors (Flott and Linden 2016). This paper will provide a brief outline concerning the importance of clinical simulation training in clinical education by drawing upon relevant educational theories.

Clinical education the process of delivering healthcare based education across clinical settings – poses a range of advantages for potential healthcare professionals, the most important of which being, procuring a real-life, hands-on experience concerning patient care, patient communication and evidence-based practice (Rutherford-Hemming, Nye and Coram 2016).  However, such form of clinical education involving newly enrolled healthcare professionals or nursing students increases the risk of medical errors, medical malpractices and thus an associated issue of patient safety risk. Such issues not only impact healthcare organizational practice and patient satisfaction but also inflict long term financial losses and extensive medical expenditures as compensation (Kim, Park and Shin 2016).

A notable alterative to the above issues of patient safety and financial implications is to incorporate clinical education in the form of clinical simulation training. Simulation based clinical education involves delivering clinical education using simulated patient models. Such form of hands-on learning, not only enhance the clinical competence within students but also prevent the risk of medical errors and patient harm (Bogossian et al. 2018). While simulated patient models may not fully replicate the conditions prevalent in a real life patients, recent advancements in medical technology have resulted in the development of simulated patients projecting human-like emotions of crying, sweating, blinking and even vital signs projection like pulsation and breathing. Such advancements not only allow students to exercise their newly learned clinical skills, but also pave the way for reduced risk of patient harm, safety risks and consequences associated with medical errors (Judd et al. 2016).

Traditional classroom theories which employ textual learning resources widely practice cognitivist based learning where learning across individuals is regarded as a product of cognitive process and cognitive development. While such learning modules relate heavily to traditional cognitive based developmental psychological, practical or demonstrative learning comprising of real life experiences is largely missing (Flott and Linden 2016). Simulation training based clinical education, corrects this limitation by focusing the deliverance of clinical learning, on the role of experiences in influencing learning and understanding across individuals – that is, constructivist theory of learning. However, considering that both cognitive as well as constructivist learning have their own set of strengths and limitations, it is recommended that healthcare organizations employ multiple learning methods and theories for ensuring comprehensive learning (Raleigh et al. 2018).

This paper thus provides a brief yet extensive outline concerning the prevalence of current issues pertaining to patient safety and medical malpractices and the associated importance of clinical simulation training in preventing the same. To conclude, healthcare organizations are recommended to incorporate multiple learning styles for delivering holistic clinical education.

Bogossian, F., Cooper, S., Kelly, M., Levett-Jones, T., McKenna, L., Slark, J. and Seaton, P., 2018. Best practice in clinical simulation education− are we there yet? A cross-sectional survey of simulation in Australian and New Zealand pre-registration nursing education. Collegian, 25(3), pp.327-334.

Flott, E.A. and Linden, L., 2016. The clinical learning environment in nursing education: a concept analysis. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 72(3), pp.501-513.

Judd, B.K., Scanlan, J.N., Alison, J.A., Waters, D. and Gordon, C.J., 2016. The validity of a professional competence tool for physiotherapy students in simulation-based clinical education: a Rasch analysis. BMC medical education, 16(1), p.196.

Kim, J., Park, J.H. and Shin, S., 2016. Effectiveness of simulation-based nursing education depending on fidelity: a meta-analysis. BMC medical education, 16(1), p.152.

Raleigh, M., Wilson, G., Moss, D., Reineke-Piper, K., Walden, J., Fisher, D., Williams, T., Alexander, C., Niceler, B., Viera, A. and Zakrajsek, T., 2018. Same Content, Different Methods: Comparing Lecture, Engaged Classroom, and Simulation. Family medicine, 50(2), pp.100-105.

Rutherford-Hemming, T., Nye, C. and Coram, C., 2016. Using simulation for clinical practice hours in nurse practitioner education in the United States: A systematic review. Nurse Education Today, 37, pp.128-135.