Does Simulation Scenario Execution Improve Acute Care Skills and Confidence Related to Maternal and Pediatric Care Emergencies?

In Uganda and many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, health providers have minimal training and intermittent opportunity to maintain skills in managing delivery complications and acute newborn and pediatric conditions. Interventions like effective resuscitation assistance at the time of birth are lifesaving. Every 30 second delay in establishing effective resuscitation at birth increases the risk of death by 16%. The purpose of this study is to test whether medical simulation can improve acute care skills and confidence related to maternal and pediatric care emergencies.

A solid body of evidence now supports simulation-based learning as superior to didactic teaching and problem-based learning for the acquisition of critical assessment and management skills, particularly for clinical emergencies. Simulation-based training promotes skill acquisition and retention, enhances teamwork, and increases knowledge and understanding of key procedures. Simulation-based learning is now the norm in medical, nursing and paramedical training in most high income settings. There remains a critical need to operationalize simulation-based learning in resource-constrained settings

Inclusion criteria

• Participants are medical and nursing students in active clinical rotation; third and fifth year medical students and third and fourth year nursing students at Mbarara University of Science and Technology.

Exclusion criteria

• Exclude medical and nursing students in the pre-clinical years and those in non-clinical rotations at the time of the intervention.