Recently
published by Advances in Health Sciences Education,
“Does training learners on simulators benefit real patients?” reviews a body of research that has explored
the effectiveness of simulator training with regard to training transfer of specific
skill-based, rule-based, and knowledge-based clinical tasks. The authors point
out that the simulation-based training strategy has been widely adopted in
medical schools across Europe and North America without ample research support of
both clinical skills transfer and measurable patient benefits.
What may be
interesting to discuss here is a parallel line of speculation based on a
conflicting premise: Why has it taken medicine so long to embrace
simulation-based training in contrast to, for example, the military? In
response to this hypothetical, one may venture that medicine requires a new
practice to be evidence-based before it is adopted – after all, patient lives
are at stake. Therefore, the previous lack of and the current limited body of
research supporting clinical training transfer simply have not provided the level
of evidence required to prompt widespread acceptance of simulation-based
medical training.
That being
said, there are fewer and fewer medical schools left that are not incorporating
some form of simulation into the curriculum. In “Medical simulation gets real,”
Voelker traces the progressive introduction and use of simulation in medical
education and training, also highlighting that, “among the greatest challenges
for simulation researchers is determining whether simulation training can
translate into improved patient outcomes.”
The papers
cited here are only a small sample of those addressing the topic of clinical
transfer of skills from simulation-based training. Weigh in below – do you think
medicine is “catching up” to the simulation bandwagon? Do you feel there is enough evidence to
support the relatively recent increase in the use of simulation in medical
education, perhaps with respect to a given clinical skillset in particular? What
areas are particularly lacking when it comes to simulation-based training and studies
on resultant patient benefits and why?