High‐Fidelity Simulation: Preparing Dental Hygiene Students for Managing Medical Emergencies

Abstract

Medical emergencies can occur at any time in the dental ofice, so being prepared to properly manage the situation can be the difference between life and death. The entire dental team must be properly trained regarding all aspects of emergency management in the dental clinic. The aim of this study was to evaluate a new educational approach using a high-idelity simulator to prepare dental hygiene students for medical emergencies. This study utilized high-idelity simulation (HFS) to evaluate the abilities of junior dental hygiene students at Eastern Washington University to handle a medical emergency in the dental hygiene clinic. Students were given a medical emergency scenario requiring them to assess the emergency and implement life-saving protocols in a simulated "real-life" situation using a high-idelity manikin. Retrospective data were collected for four years from the classes of 2010 through 2013 (N=114). The results indicated that learning with simulation was effective in helping the students identify the medical emergency in a timely manner, implement emergency procedures correctly, locate and correctly utilize contents of the emergency kit, administer appropriate intervention/treatment for a speciic patient, and provide the patient with appropriate follow-up instructions. For dental hygiene programs seeking to enhance their curricula in the area of medical emergencies, this study suggests that HFS is an effective tool to prepare students to appropriately handle medical emergencies. Faculty calibration is essential to standardize simulation.

High‐fidelity simulation in training dental students for medical life‐threatening emergency

“…The simulation is in the curriculum of dental students in some universities . A very positive impact has been observed through a postal survey of residents and assistants in paediatric dentistry at the University of Colorado Denver .…”

“…Several studies have evaluated the ability of dental students to handle a medical emergency, but few of them use the high‐fidelity simulation . We hypothesised that integrating high‐fidelity patient simulator training into the curriculum of dental surgery students could benefit them.…”

Students' Evaluations of Simulations in Dentistry: A Multiple Cohort Study at a U.S. Dental School

“…Simulation exercises used in dental education vary in complexity and technological requirements and can include modalities such as representative models, 23 virtual patients, 16, 42 standardized patients, 17, 43 and manikins 21 . Consistently, in those studies, similar cohorts at the same dental school participating in simulations utilizing both standardized patients and high‐fidelity manikins reported similar rates of positivity towards the experience.…”

“…In general, studies indicate that learners have positive feelings towards simulations used in dentistry 16, 21, 23 . Use of high‐fidelity simulation for medical emergency management training in particular garnered positive dental student ratings in one study 22 .…”

Nivel de conocimiento sobre el manejo de emergencias médicas de los alumnos del quinto y sexto año de la Facultad de Odontología de la Universidad Autónoma del Paraguay Pierre Fauchard. Asunción, Paraguay.

“…En estudios realizados a odontólogos en Perú por Gaviño y Rodrich [8], en el 2015, respecto al nivel de conocimiento de odontólogos sobre el manejo de emergencias durante la consulta odontológica, hubo un resultado regular con un porcentaje de 43,98%, lo que coincidió con Jodalli y Ankola [21], y a diferencia de Benavides [14], Stafuzza et al [4] y Arsati et al [22], que tuvieron como resultado un nivel de conocimiento malo. En cambio, Bilich et al [29] realizaron estudios en higienistas dentales, con una buena tasa de respuesta de más del 80%. Y Mejía et al [1] realizaron un estudio a estudiantes de Medicina en universidades peruanas en el 2011, el cual dio como resultado que el nivel de conocimiento no es bueno.…”