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Assessing Medical Students' Nontechnical Skills Using Immersive Simulation: What Are the Essential Components?
Emma C Phillips1, Samantha E Smith, Ailsa L Hamilton
1From the Scottish Centre for Simulation and Clinical Human Factors (E.C.P., V.R.T.), Larbert; The University of Edinburgh (E.C.P., S.E.S., V.R.T.); and NHS Lothian (A.L.H., J.K., V.R.T.), Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
The Medical Students' Nontechnical Skills (Medi-StuNTS) system is a valid and complete tool for assessing essential nontechnical skills in medical students. It covers a wider range of skills than previous tools, including self-awareness and escalating care.
Area of Science:
- Medical Education
- Healthcare Simulation
- Professional Skills Assessment
Background:
- Nontechnical skills (NTS) are crucial for medical students' clinical performance.
- Existing assessment tools for NTS in simulated settings are limited in scope.
- The Medical Students' Nontechnical Skills (Medi-StuNTS) behavioral marker system (BMS) was developed to address this gap.
Purpose of the Study:
- To gather evidence on the completeness and content validity of the Medi-StuNTS BMS.
- To refine the Medi-StuNTS BMS based on expert and user feedback.
- To identify essential NTS for medical students.
Main Methods:
- 128 workshop participants evaluated the Medi-StuNTS system for missing or irrelevant items.
- A panel of 10 subject matter experts rated the essentiality of each skill element.
- Item-Content Validity Index (I-CVI) and Scale-Content Validity Index (S-CVI) were calculated.
Main Results:
- 78.9% of participants found no missing items, and 93% found no irrelevant items.
- Key NTS identified as potentially missing included leadership and nonverbal communication.
- 14 of 16 skill elements met the I-CVI threshold, and the S-CVI exceeded the acceptable level.
Conclusions:
- The Medi-StuNTS BMS demonstrates strong evidence for completeness and content validity.
- The system comprehensively covers essential NTS for medical students, including self-awareness and escalating care.
- Medi-StuNTS offers a more extensive assessment of NTS compared to prior tools.
