Board #116 - Research Abstract There’s More to Simulation in High School than Driver’s Ed and Fire Drills

Abstract

Hypothesis: Simulation training provides hands on experience in a safe environment, where students and clinicians are able to practice without any risk of harming a patient. Pharmacists and pharmacy students are often educated with print-based or online reading materials and lectures; simulation training, however, provides a unique opportunity for advancing clinical competence and education by presenting a realistic patient case in a low-risk environment. This project aimed to evaluate the difference between pharmacy education via written materials alone and pharmacy education via written materials plus hands-on simulation.Methods: A simulation case, educational module, and assessment regarding torsades de pointes (TdP) in an adolescent patient were designed for this study. Third-year pharmacy students attending simulation and pharmacists employed by Children's of Alabama were included. The written educational module was given to all participants at least 10 days prior to attending simulation. The anonymous assessment was given to all third-year pharmacy students and pharmacists at a time when approximately half of the participants had been to simulation. The assessment included demographic information; whether or not the participant had been to simulation regarding TdP within the last thirty days; whether or not the participant had read, skimmed, or not read the module; and assessed clinical concepts addressed in the module and in simulation. The aNew South Walesers from those who had been to simulation and those who had not, and whether they had read, skimmed or not read the educational material were compared.Results: Ninety-two students and 26 pharmacists took the assessment. At the time of the assessment, 48 of the students and 13 of the pharmacists had been to simulation. 41.5% reported reading, 37.3% reported skimming, and 21.2% reported not reading the module. A non-paired t-test was used to compare the percentage of total correct aNew South Walesers and aNew South Walesers of individual questions between groups. The mean score of all participants was 62 T 20, and there was no statistically significant difference between raw scores of students and pharmacists (p=0.245). Mean scores of participants who went to simulation (70 T 16) were statistically significantly higher than scores of those who had not attended simulation (54 T 21) (pG0.0001). Further, those who attended simulation and read the module (72 T 3), skimmed (68 T 13), or did not read the module (66 T 16) had higher mean scores than those who did not attend simulation and read the module (62 T 26), skimmed the module (54 T 17), or did not read the module (51 T 20).Conclusion: Hands-on simulation education has a statistically significant positive effect on assessment scores. Overall, reading the educational module and participating in simulation yielded the best scores. Participants who attended the simulation and did not read the module had higher average scores than participants who read the educational module and those who did not go to simulat...