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Wheelchair Transfer Simulations to Enhance Procedural Skills and Clinical Reasoning
Joanne M Baird1, Ketki D Raina2, Joan C Rogers3
1Joanne M. Baird, PhD, OTR/L, is Assistant Professor, Department of Occupational Therapy, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA.
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.
