Preparing clinicians for practice: effectiveness and design of on-call simulation

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Clinical Simulation
• Healthcare Professional Training

Background:

• Medical students and doctors report under-preparedness for on-call duties.
• On-call work demands critical decision-making and managing acute patients with limited support.
• On-call simulation aims to enhance confidence and skills for these demanding roles.

Purpose of the Study:

• Review the use and effectiveness of on-call simulation for medical students and new doctors.
• Assess simulation's impact on confidence, skills, and patient outcomes.
• Identify areas for developing existing on-call simulation models.

Main Methods:

• Conducted a narrative review of literature on on-call simulation in medical education.
• Searched OVID Medline and Embase without date or language restrictions.
• Summarized key findings to identify themes for discussion.

Main Results:

• All 23 reviewed publications showed positive effects on self-reported confidence.
• On-call simulation is valuable as an induction activity.
• Limited evidence exists for improved patient outcomes; simulation is resource-intensive and lacks interprofessional education.

Conclusions:

• On-call simulation should integrate interprofessional education for broader impact.
• Further research is needed to evaluate effects on patient outcomes.
• Simulation is effective for boosting confidence, especially in limited-exposure specialties; virtual/tabletop formats may reduce resource burden.