Resident response to integration of simulation-based education into emergency medicine conference.

Abstract

Utilization of simulation-based training has become increasingly prevalent in residency training. The authors compared emergency medicine (EM) resident feedback for simulation sessions to traditional lectures from an EM residency didactic program. The authors performed a retrospective review of all written EM conference evaluations over a 29-month period. Evaluation questions were scored on a 1-9 Likert scale. Lectures and simulation accounted for 77.6 and 22.4% of the conferences, respectively. Scored means (+/-standard deviations [SDs]) were as follows: overall, lecture 7.97 +/- 0.74 versus simulation 8.373 +/- 0.44 (p < 0.01); Question 1, lecture 7.97 +/- 0.74 versus simulation 8.40 +/- 0.43 (p < 0.005); Question 2, lecture 7.92 +/- 0.74 versus simulation 8.34 +/- 0.48 (p < 0.01); Question 3, lecture 8.01 +/- 0.77 versus simulation 8.26 +/- 0.51 (p < 0.15); and Question 4, lecture 8.00 +/- 0.75 versus simulation 8.42 +/- 0.46 (p < 0.01). There was no longitudinal decay of scores. Emergency medicine residents scored simulation-based sessions higher than traditional lectures. The scores over time suggest that this preference for simulation can be sustainable long term. Residents perceive simulation as more desirable teaching method compared to the traditional lecture format.