Does Simulation Scenario Execution Improve Acute Care Skills and Confidence Related to Maternal and Pediatric Care Emergencies? (SimForLife)

Mbarara University of Science and Technology

Status: Completed

Conditions: Maternal, Pediatric Care Emergencies

Treatments: Other: Medical simulation using scenario execution

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03258073

MUST 21/06-16b

Details and patient eligibility

About

In Uganda and many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, health providers have minimal training and intermittent opportunity to maintain skills in managing delivery complications and acute newborn and pediatric conditions. Interventions like effective resuscitation assistance at the time of birth are lifesaving. Every 30 second delay in establishing effective resuscitation at birth increases the risk of death by 16%. The purpose of this study is to test whether medical simulation can improve acute care skills and confidence related to maternal and pediatric care emergencies.

Full description

In Uganda and many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, health providers have minimal training and intermittent opportunity to maintain skills in managing delivery complications and acute newborn and pediatric conditions. Interventions like effective resuscitation assistance at the time of birth are lifesaving. Every 30 second delay in establishing effective resuscitation at birth increases the risk of death by 16%. The purpose of this study is to test whether medical simulation can improve acute care skills and confidence related to maternal and pediatric care emergencies.

A solid body of evidence now supports simulation-based learning as superior to didactic teaching and problem-based learning for the acquisition of critical assessment and management skills, particularly for clinical emergencies. Simulation-based training promotes skill acquisition and retention, enhances teamwork, and increases knowledge and understanding of key procedures. Simulation-based learning is now the norm in medical, nursing and paramedical training in most high income settings. There remains a critical need to operationalize simulation-based learning in resource-constrained settings

Enrollment: 120 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Participants are medical and nursing students in active clinical rotation; third and fifth year medical students and third and fourth year nursing students at Mbarara University of Science and Technology.

Exclusion criteria

• Exclude medical and nursing students in the pre-clinical years and those in non-clinical rotations at the time of the intervention.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Other

Allocation: N/A

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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120 participants in 1 patient group

Medical simulation using scenarion execution

Experimental group

Description:

Study participants will be exposed to medical simulation using scenario execution. In this exercise, participants will be exposed to a scenario that simulates a medical emergency. They will be required to respond. Following their response, the participants will have a chance to share with the investigators their experiences and what they have learnt from the exposure in a debriefing session. The investigator will then provide feedback on their performance.

Treatment:

Other: Medical simulation using scenario execution