The U.S. military has become increasingly reliant on simulators to train combat medical personnel. Human patient simulators that exist for training medical procedures represent task elements with varying degrees of fidelity. The goal of this research was to evaluate the functional fidelity of two commonly used simulators to train surgical cricothyroidotomy to experienced participants. Following a task analysis informed by experts, we collected performance training and test data from 14 experienced trainees. Each participant performed surgical cricothyroidotomies on porcine tracheas before and after five training sessions using one of two simulators. Comparisons of procedure completion times and errors showed development of task mastery by members of both training groups. Analyses of transfer of training from the final training session to the porcine posttest suggested that experienced participants were sensitive to differences between the training simulators and conditions of the posttest. Implications are presented as they relate to the use of simulation technologies for training cricothyroidotomy and the application of a standard method for fidelity assessment.

As with civilian medicine, the Military Health System relies on medical manikins to supplement didactic training. Analyses of transfer-of-training and the calibration between self-efficacy (SE) and competence offer a robust look at training effectiveness; however, the logistics of collecting these data are complex. Self-reported SE is commonly used as a starting point to look at training effectiveness, and prior research has used it to compare didactic against simulation-based training options. Military medical training courses, however, often combine didactic and experiential (simulation-based) training. Little or no work has documented how SE is differentially affected in courses using both training approaches. Results reported here represent SE data from enlisted medical technicians completing pre-deployment readiness training. These data illustrate that SE gained through didactic training was maintained throughout the simulation training. We discuss possible reasons why this sample did not demonstrate further significant gains following simulation and we identify challenges associated with the study of individual constructs such as SE in the context of team-based training environments.