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Can patient simulator scenarios be utilized to improve teamwork and communication skills in first year medical students taking Medical Physiology?
Author(s) -
Harris David M
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.27.1_supplement.740.12
Subject(s) - teamwork , medical education , communication skills , psychology , task (project management) , skills management , scale (ratio) , medicine , engineering , physics , systems engineering , quantum mechanics , political science , law
Communication (Com) skills, as well as decision making/clinical problem solving, are on the list of LCME “hot topics”. Additionally, there has been a recent push to improve patient safety which most commonly revolves around miscommunication. Development of these skills occurs most often during the clinical years of medical education and studies focused on incorporation of these skills during the preclinical years are few. The aim of the current study is to determine if Com and teamwork skills can be improved during the preclinical years by using patient simulator (SIM) scenarios based upon physiology concepts. We used a modified version of the Anesthetists’ Non‐Technical Skills Behavorial (ANTS) marker system. This focused on 4 major categories: task management(TM), team working (TW), situation awareness (SA), and decision making (DM). 100 1st medical students participated in two SIM activities (#1: heat exhaustion, #2: Heart failure) in which faculty rated 4 categories on a 1–4 scale (poor to good). Students were debriefed in 2–3 groups on basic science concepts, and teamwork/Com skills. Average scores decreased in all four categories between SIM 1 and 2. TM = 3.2 to 3.1, TW = 3.6 to 3.0, SA = 3.3 to 2.9, and DM = 3.4 to 3.00. Interestingly, verbal feedback and actions from the students as well as faculty observations of the students appears to show the opposite and that the students appear to be discussing and group assessing to a greater degree. Additionally, the complexity of the SIM may play a role in these skills as SIM 2 is a more complex case than SIM 1. In conclusion, more data is needed and additional analysis measurements are needed to address how to assess student behavior regarding Com and teamwork skills. However, the fact that these are vital life‐long skills which could improve patient safety long term makes it a noteworthy focus of medical institutions.