PERCEPTIONS OF MEDICAL STUDENTS ABOUT SIMULATION-BASED MEDICAL EDUCATION
Ayesha Javed Hasan, Srabani Bhattacharya* and Sundaram Kartikeyan
ABSTRACT
This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on 92 medical students: 54 females (58.69%) and 38 males (41.31%), in a metropolitan city in Western India to determine their perceptions about simulation training. The mean age of the female and male respondents was 20.87 +/- 1.49 years and 20.95 +/- 1.63 years, respectively, without significant gender difference (Z=0.240; p=0.810). A significantly higher number of female respondents opined that simulation would be a useful additional learning tool (Z=3.170; p=0.001); would make the subject more interesting (Z=2.437; p=0.014); that they would personally prefer simulators (Z=2.432; p=0.015) and that simulators would improve confidence and competence (Z=2.482; p=0.013). Though simulation-based training cannot replace clinical exposure, its use is growing globally with its capability to improve competence of health professionals, augment their confidence levels and reduce intrinsic risks to patients. The hands-on aspect of simulation-based training provides an opportunity for repetitive practice in a low-risk environment, which can surmount the constraints of traditional training. Since high-fidelity simulators are expensive, more studies are required before adopting simulation-based medical education as a standard tool for training and assessing medical students.
Keywords: Competence, Perceptions, Simulation-based medical education, Simulators.
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