Emergency medicine staff’s perception of SimWars: A Singapore view

Abstract

Background: SimWars is an onstage competition among teams of health care providers in front of an audience. Participants demonstrate communication, teamwork, clinical management, and problem-solving skills. Upon completion, judges debrief participants’ clinical actions and team dynamics. Purpose: The Society for Emergency Medicine in Singapore hosted the inaugural SimWars in 2014. This study investigated whether SimWars was effective in teaching emergency medicine staff, explored how the competitive nature of SimWars affected the performance and learning of participants, and identified strategies to implement SimWars effectively in Singapore. Methods: A descriptive qualitative design was selected owing to the exploratory nature of the questions. Thirteen SimWars participants, six audiences, and three judges participated in the study. Results: (1) Twenty-one out of 22 considered SimWars useful for learning; (2) 14 out of 19 agreed that SimWars closely resemble clinical practice compared to clinical practice; (3) 16 out of 19 agreed that competition induced stress from participants and enhanced performance; (4) 16 out of 22 said SimWars was psychologically safe; (5) 18 said the team worked well together; (6) 19 said that debriefing helped them to improve through clarification, discussion, and reflection; debriefing should be personalized, longer, more structured, more detailed, and in a more private manner; (7) 13 said their knowledge and skills on the content areas will change; 21 said what they learned will be transferred to clinical practice; (8) the useful parts of SimWars included practicing under stress, debriefing, teamwork, and critical thinking; and (9) future improvements included avoiding technical problems and providing clear guidelines. Conclusion: Our responders perceived SimWars to be effective for professional development.