A randomized controlled study of manikin simulator fidelity on neonatal resuscitation program learning outcomes

• Published in: Advances in health sciences education : theory and practice 2015-03, Vol.20 (1), p.205-218
• Main Authors: Curran, Vernon, Fleet, Lisa, White, Susan, Bessell, Clare, Deshpandey, Akhil, Drover, Anne, Hayward, Mark, Valcour, James
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Cardiopulmonary resuscitation; Clinical Competence; Comparative Analysis; Control Groups; CPR; Curriculum; Education; Education, Medical, Undergraduate - methods; Educational Measurement; Experimental Groups; Female; Fidelity; First Aid; Humans; Infant, Newborn; Male; Manikins; Medical Education; Medical Students; Neonates; Neonatology - education; Outcomes of Education; Participant Satisfaction; Pretests Posttests; Resuscitation - education; Satisfaction; Scores; Self Esteem; Simulation; Student Behavior; Teamwork; Undergraduate Students
• ISSN: 1382-4996; 1573-1677
• DOI: 10.1007/s10459-014-9522-8

The neonatal resuscitation program (NRP) has been developed to educate physicians and other health care providers about newborn resuscitation and has been shown to improve neonatal resuscitation skills. Simulation-based training is recommended as an effective modality for instructing neonatal resuscitation and both low and high-fidelity manikin simulators are used. There is limited research that has compared the effect of low and high-fidelity manikin simulators for NRP learning outcomes, and more specifically on teamwork performance and confidence. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of using low versus high-fidelity manikin simulators in NRP instruction. A randomized posttest-only control group study design was conducted. Third year undergraduate medical students participated in NRP instruction and were assigned to an experimental group (high-fidelity manikin simulator) or control group (low-fidelity manikin simulator). Integrated skills station (megacode) performance, participant satisfaction, confidence and teamwork behaviour scores were compared between the study groups. Participants in the high-fidelity manikin simulator instructional group reported significantly higher total scores in overall satisfaction ( p  = 0.001) and confidence ( p  = 0.001). There were no significant differences in teamwork behaviour scores, as observed by two independent raters, nor differences on mandatory integrated skills station performance items at the p