Abstract:

High realism clinical simulation is an experiential and reflective learning possibility in health sciences. It has a high rate of acquisition of both technical and non-technical skills and it is related to the improvement in patient safety. Clinical simulation is widely described as a training tool in degrees such as nursing and medicine, but there is little known in others such as Physiotherapy.

After having detected this lack of use, it was decided to request a teaching innovation project (TIP) with the aim of implementing simulation as a learning methodology in the Physiotherapy Degree of the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB).

The aims of this project were increasing the acquisition of both specific and transversal skills in students, including debriefing as a reflective learning tool, introducing an structured clinical simulation in the curriculum of the Physiotherapy Degree of the UIB and creating clinical simulation scenarios in which to exploit the skills to be acquired.

Clinical simulation experience was introduced in the Kinesitherapy subject of the Physiotherapy Degree at the Universitat de les Illes Balears (UIB). Creation of clinical simulation scenarios based on the competences that students must acquire in the subject of Kinesitherapy. Each of the 3 medium groups was subdivided into 5 teams. In total 10 simulation scenarios were created, and each team worked 2 different scenarios. A document with the briefing of each case was posted through the online platform before the simulation. Therefore, students could study and prepare their performance. They were asked to record the simulation part on a video that could not be edited to make the simulation as real as possible. Simulation activity: During the face-to-face seminar, preparation techniques were used at the beginning. After visualization of each simulation, debriefing was used as a reflective learning method, where almost all students participated. Tables plus, delta, plus plus were created altogether. During these debriefing sessions, other teachers involved in the project were invited to attend as listeners. Evaluation: once the second simulation seminar was completed, the pertinent version of the Debriefing Evaluation for Health Simulation (EDSS) rubric was passed to both the students, the facilitator who had led the session and the attending experts online, in order to find out the degree of satisfaction with the use of debriefing.

Of the 68 enrolled students in the Kinesitherapy course, only 36 answered the EDSS questionnaire, which consists of 29 items, 23 of which are numerical on a Likert scale from 1 to 7. The mean of the items ranged from 5.7 (in item 1C of logistical details) and reaching maximum averages of 6.75 (in item 2D on the focus on student learning). The response medians were 6 and 7 in all the items. Even higher values were obtained in the expert EDSS questionnaire.
Both students and teachers involved in the project have positively valued the clinical simulation experience. However, it is necessary to take into account the adaptations suggested after this piloting experience to enhance student learning and improve the simulation experience.

Keywords:

Simulation, physiotherapy, experience, undergraduate, learning.