A Literature Study of Medical Simulations for Non-Technical Skills Training in Emergency Medicine: Twenty Years of Progress, an Integrated Research Framework, and Future Research Avenues.

Medical simulations have led to extensive developments in emergency medicine. Apart from the growing number of applications and research efforts in patient safety, few studies have focused on modalities, research methods, and professions via a synthesis of simulation studies with a focus on non-technical skills training. Intersections between medical simulation, non-technical skills training, and emergency medicine merit a synthesis of progress over the first two decades of the 21st century. Drawing on research from the Web of Science Core Collection's Science Citation Index Expanded and Social Science Citation Index editions, results showed that medical simulations were found to be effective, practical, and highly motivating. More importantly, simulation-based education should be a teaching approach, and many simulations are utilised to substitute high-risk, rare, and complex circumstances in technical or situational simulations. (1) Publications were grouped by specific categories of non-technical skills, teamwork, communication, diagnosis, resuscitation, airway management, anaesthesia, simulation, and medical education. (2) Although mixed-method and quantitative approaches were prominent during the time period, further exploration of qualitative data would greatly contribute to the interpretation of experience. (3) High-fidelity dummy was the most suitable instrument, but the tendency of simulators without explicitly stating the vendor selection calls for a standardised training process. The literature study concludes with a ring model as the integrated framework of presently known best practices and a broad range of underexplored research areas to be investigated in detail.

Game Experience and Learning Effects of a Scoring-Based Mechanic for Logistical Aspects of Pediatric Emergency Medicine: Development and Feasibility Study.

BACKGROUND: Using serious games for learning in operations management is well established. However, especially for logistics skills in health care operations, there is little work on the design of game mechanics for learning engagement and the achievement of the desired learning goals. OBJECTIVE: This contribution presents a serious game design representing patient flow characteristics, systemic resource configurations, and the roles of the players based on a real Swedish emergency ward. The game was tested in a set of game-based learning practices in the modalities of a physical board game and an online multiplayer serious game that implemented the same game structure. METHODS: First, survey scores were collected using the Game Experience Questionnaire Core and Social Presence Modules to evaluate the experience and acceptance of the proposed design to gamify real processes in emergency care. Second, lag sequential analysis was applied to analyze the impact of the game mechanics on learning behavior transitions. Lastly, regression analysis was used to understand whether learning engagement attributes could potentially serve as significant predicting variables for logistical performance in a simulated learning environment. RESULTS: A total of 36 students from courses in engineering and management at KTH Royal Institute of Technology participated in both game-based learning practices during the autumn and spring semesters of 2019 and 2020. For the Core Module, significant differences were found for the scores for negative affect and tension compared with the rest of the module. For the Social Presence Module, significant differences were found in the scores for the psychological involvement - negative feelings dimension compared with the rest of the module. During the process of content generation, the participant had access to circulating management resources and could edit profiles. The standard regression analysis output yielded a ΔR2 of 0.796 (F14,31=2725.49, P<.001) for the board version and 0.702 (F24,31=2635.31, P<.001) for the multiplayer online version after the learning engagement attributes. CONCLUSIONS: The high scores of positive affect and immersion compared to the low scores of negative feelings demonstrated the motivating and cognitive involvement impact of the game. The proposed game mechanics have visible effects on significant correlation parameters between the majority of scoring features and changes in learning engagement attributes. Therefore, we conclude that for enhancing learning in logistical aspects of health care, serious games that are steered by well-designed scoring mechanisms can be used.

Correction to: A systematic literature review of simulation models for non-technical skill training in healthcare logistics.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1186/s41077-018-0072-7.].

A systematic literature review of simulation models for non-technical skill training in healthcare logistics.

Background: Resource allocation in patient care relies heavily on individual judgements of healthcare professionals. Such professionals perform coordinating functions by managing the timing and execution of a multitude of care processes for multiple patients. Based on advances in simulation, new technologies that could be used for establishing realistic representations have been developed. These simulations can be used to facilitate understanding of various situations, coordination training and education in logistics, decision-making processes, and design aspects of the healthcare system. However, no study in the literature has synthesized the types of simulations models available for non-technical skills training and coordination of care. Methods: A systematic literature review, following the PRISMA guidelines, was performed to identify simulation models that could be used for training individuals in operative logistical coordination that occurs on a daily basis. This article reviewed papers of simulation in healthcare logistics presented in the Web of Science Core Collections, ACM digital library, and JSTOR databases. We conducted a screening process to gather relevant papers as the knowledge foundation of our literature study. The screening process involved a query-based identification of papers and an assessment of relevance and quality. Results: Two hundred ninety-four papers met the inclusion criteria. The review showed that different types of simulation models can be used for constructing scenarios for addressing different types of problems, primarily for training and education sessions. The papers identified were classified according to their utilized paradigm and focus areas. (1) Discrete-event simulation in single-category and single-unit scenarios formed the most dominant approach to developing healthcare simulations and dominated all other categories by a large margin. (2) As we approached a systems perspective (cross-departmental and cross-institutional), discrete-event simulation became less popular and is complemented by system dynamics or hybrid modeling. (3) Agent-based simulations and participatory simulations have increased in absolute terms, but the share of these modeling techniques among all simulations in this field remains low. Conclusions: An extensive study analyzing the literature on simulation in healthcare logistics indicates a growth in the number of examples demonstrating how simulation can be used in healthcare settings. Results show that the majority of studies create situations in which non-technical skills of managers, coordinators, and decision makers can be trained. However, more system-level and complex system-based approaches are limited and use methods other than discrete-event simulation.