Use of Health Care Simulation in Air Medical Settings: A Scoping Review

Simulation-based training is well suited to unique and high-risk settings such as air medicine. Given that the use of simulation to educate air medical professionals continues to grow, there is a need to understand how simulation-based training methods have been used in air medicine thus far. This scoping review aimed to explore the use of simulation as a training method for air medical professionals.

The current review was conducted according to the 5-step process established by Arksey and O'Malley and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews. Five electronic databases were searched, alongside gray literature and reference list screening. Studies that used simulation-based methods to train air medical professionals were included.

Of the 21 included studies, most programs used scenario-based simulation (65.0%), multimodal simulation (30.0%), or simulated participants (5.0%). Simulation programs typically involved native teams and targeted team development (50.0%) or focused on contextualized clinical skill building with partial teams (40.0%), whereas a single study focused on hands-on instruction of foundational clinical skills (5.0%) and observed and debriefed teams in the clinical setting (5.0%). The most common form of assessment was of reactions to the simulation program (55.0%), followed by changes in learning (45.0%), behavior (5.0%), and organizational impact (5.0%).

Research is required to identify the unique needs of the air medical setting and develop effective and feasible methods to address learning outcomes, the impact of which must be evaluated. Simulation should be embedded into air medical training programs, and educators should be supported with the resources, materials, and learning facilities needed to develop effective simulation programs.