Realistic simulation and medical students performance on Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) course: a comparative study

Adv Physiol Educ. 2023 Nov 23. doi: 10.1152/advan.00113.2023. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTClinical practice has benefited from new methodologies such as realistic simulation (RS). RS involves recreating lifelike scenarios to more accurately reflect real clinical practice, enhancing learners' skills and decision-making within controlled environments, experiencing remarkable growth in medical education. However, RS requires substantial financial investments and infrastructure. Hence, it is essential to determine the effectiveness of RS in the development of skills among medical students, which will improve the allocation of resources while optimizing learning. This cross-sectional study was carried out in the simulation laboratory of a medical school and the performance of students who underwent two different curriculum matrices (without RS and with RS, from 2021 to 2022) in the Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) course was compared. This test was chosen considering that the competencies involved in cardiac life support are essential, regardless of the medical specialty and ACLS is a set of life-saving protocols used worldwide. We observed that RS impact can be different for practical abilities when compared with the theoretical ones. There was no correlation between the general academic performance and students' grades reflecting the RS impacts. We conclude that RS leads to less remediation and increased competence in practical skills. RS is an important learning strategy ...
Source: Adv Physiol Educ - Category: Universities & Medical Training Authors: Source Type: research