Just-in-Time Simulation Training to Augment Overnight ICU Resident Education

Background Patients who decompensate overnight experience worse outcomes than those who do so during the day. Just-in-time (JIT) simulation could improve on-call resident preparedness but has been minimally evaluated in critical care medicine (CCM) to date. Objective To determine whether JIT training can improve residents' performance in simulation and if those skills would transfer to better clinical management in adult CCM. Methods Second-year medicine residents participated in simulated decompensation events aligned to common medical intensive care unit (MICU) emergencies predicted to occur overnight by their attending intensivist. Simulation faculty scored their performance via critical action checklists. If the event occurred, MICU attendings rated residents' clinical management as well. At the rotation's conclusion, a variant of one previously trained scenario was simulated to assess for performance improvement. Resident perceptions were surveyed before, during, and after completion of the study. Results Twenty-eight residents participated; 22 of 28 (79%) completed the curriculum. Management of simulated decompensations improved following training (initial simulation checklist completion rate 60% vs 80% final simulation, P≤.001, Wilcoxon r=0.5). Predicted events occurred in 27 (45%) of the 60 shifts evaluated, with no observed difference in faculty ratings of overnight performance (median rating 4.5 if trained vs 3.0 if untrained; U=58.50; P=.12; Mann-Whitney r=0.30). Residents' self-reported preparedness to manage MICU emergencies improved significantly following training, from a median of 3.0 to 4.0 (P=.006, Wilcoxon r=0.42). Conclusions JIT simulation training improved residents' performance in simulation.