Scaffolding Simulation Activities for Medical Students Learning Cardiopulmonary Assessment: A Retrospective Study

The purpose of this study was to determine if the scaffolding of simulation activities and modalities improved medical student outcomes as part of a cardiopulmonary course at the researchers' medical school. The concept of scaffolding has been used in educational curricular design for many years, but its application in healthcare simulation has been poorly studied. As a new medical school, the order in which the simulation educational events were planned had largely been based on anecdotal and observational evidence from faculty. Additionally, there had been great variability in the modalities used during simulation learning activities during the initial curriculum development. The current study sought to quantify whether the current order of scaffolded simulation activities that started in 2020 had statistically increased the summative simulation scores compared to those prior to 2020. The findings suggested there was an increase of 3% in student scores found via an independent samples t-test, t(1287) = -12.252, p < .001. While the researchers are unable to suggest that the scaffolded activities were linked with the causation of the increase in scores, the order of simulation activities could be contributory. These findings suggest scaffolding of simulation activities could influence student learning in a similar manner to other educational activities. Future research should seek to better understand the role of scaffolding in medical simulation.