Best evidence on high-fidelity simulation: what clinical teachers need to know

Since the 1980s, medical education has witnessed a significant increase in the use of simulation technology for teaching and assessment. What had previously been thought of as just a hobby for technically savvy clinical educators has now been fully integrated into the culture of clinical training. This is true not only for undergraduate medical education, but also for postgraduate training and continuing professional development. Hundreds of medical schools worldwide have already developed, or are in the process of developing, clinical skills/simulation centres providing a wide range of simulations.¹ However, the significant allocation of funding and resources required for high-fidelity simulations demands evidence that this investment will yield positive outcomes. With this in mind, the Best Evidence Medical Education (BEME) Collaboration invited our group to review and synthesise existing evidence in educational science that addressed the question: What are the features and uses of high-fidelity medical simulations that lead to the most effective learning? Our findings yielded a list of ten features that clinical teachers should be aware of and adopt when using high-fidelity simulations.

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