RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: We describe an educational intervention that involved simulation scenarios of medically complex patients to teach transfer training and promote clinical reasoning. METHOD: Scenarios were developed with practitioner input that described (1) a patient who was acutely ill, (2) a critical medical management event that occurred during a bed-to-wheelchair transfer of the patient, and (3) an occupational need. Transfer training, using the scenarios, occurred in a high-technology laboratory with SimMan(®) and a mock hospital suite. Evaluation was based on student performance and perceptions of simulation effectiveness. RESULTS: On average, students completed 66%-88% of the transfer items correctly. Student performance suggested that the simulation scenarios were more difficult than practitioners rated them. Students rated the simulation scenarios as effective teaching tools. CONCLUSION: Scenario use in simulations for transfer training makes a positive curricular contribution to teaching procedural skills and clinical reasoning simultaneously.
RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: We evaluated the effects of transfer training-after training in the classroom and in the high-technology simulation laboratory (WISER Center)-on students' perceptions of their self-efficacy for knowledge, skill, and safety in executing dependent transfers. METHOD: After classroom training, occupational therapy students were randomized to three teaching groups on the basis of the amount of participation and observation opportunities provided at the WISER Center-observation dominant, participation dominant, and participation only. RESULTS: The participation-dominant group reported an increase in knowledge self-efficacy over time compared with the observation-dominant and participation-only groups. Over time, self-efficacy ratings increased for all students, regardless of group. CONCLUSION: Simulation scenarios implemented at the WISER Center provided a useful adjunct to classroom training in transfer skills. Both participatory and observational experiences contributed to the development of students' perceptions of their ability to manage acutely ill and medically complex patients.