A randomised controlled trial of extended immersion in multi-method continuing simulation to prepare senior medical students for practice as junior doctors

• Published in: BMC medical education 2014-05, Vol.14 (1), p.90-90, Article 90
• Main Authors: Rogers, Gary D, McConnell, Harry W, de Rooy, Nicole Jones, Ellem, Fiona, Lombard, Marise
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Clinical Competence; Comparative analysis; Curriculum; Education; Education, Medical - methods; Educational Benefits; Female; Humans; Internships; Learner Engagement; Learning; Male; Medical colleges; Medical schools; Medical students; Methods; Patient safety; Patient Simulation; Prescription writing; Simulation; Students, Medical; Teaching - methods; Teams; Workshops
• ISSN: 1472-6920; 1472-6920
• DOI: 10.1186/1472-6920-14-90

Many commencing junior doctors worldwide feel ill-prepared to deal with their new responsibilities, particularly prescribing. Simulation has been widely utilised in medical education, but the use of extended multi-method simulation to emulate the junior doctor experience has rarely been reported. A randomised controlled trial compared students who underwent two, week-long, extended simulations, several months apart (Intervention), with students who attended related workshops and seminars alone (Control), for a range of outcome measures. Eighty-four third year students in a graduate-entry medical program were randomised, and 82 completed the study. At the end of the first week, Intervention students scored a mean of 75% on a prescribing test, compared with 70% for Control students (P = 0.02) and Intervention teams initiated cardiac compressions a mean of 29.1 seconds into a resuscitation test scenario, compared with 70.1 seconds for Control teams (P