Abstract
Background: Frequent simulation-based education is recommended to improve health outcomes during neonatal resuscitation but is often inaccessible due to time, resource, and personnel requirements. Digital simulation presents a potential alternative; however, its effectiveness and reception by healthcare professionals (HCPs) remains largely unexplored.Objectives: This study explores HCPs' attitudes toward a digital simulator, technology, and mindset to elucidate their effects on neonatal resuscitation performance in simulation-based assessments.Methods: The study was conducted from April to August 2019 with 2-month (June–October 2019) and 5-month (September 2019–January 2020) follow-up at a tertiary perinatal center in Edmonton, Canada. Of 300 available neonatal HCPs, 50 participated. Participants completed a demographic survey, a pretest, two practice scenarios using the RETAIN neonatal resuscitation digital simulation, a posttest, and an attitudinal survey (100% response rate). Participants repeated the posttest scenario in 2 months (86% response rate) and completed another posttest scenario using a low-fidelity, tabletop simulator (80% response rate) 5 months after the initial study intervention. Participants' survey responses were collected to measure attitudes toward digital simulation and technology. Knowledge was assessed at baseline (pretest), acquisition (posttest), retention (2-month posttest), and transfer (5-month posttest).Results: Fifty neonatal HCPs participated in this study (44 females and 6 males; 27 nurses, 3 nurse practitioners, 14 respiratory therapists, and 6 doctors). Most participants reported technology in medical education as useful and beneficial. Three attitudinal clusters were identified by a hierarchical clustering algorithm based on survey responses. Although participants exhibited diverse attitudinal paths, they all improved neonatal resuscitation performance after using the digital simulator and successfully transferred their knowledge to a new medium.Conclusions: Digital simulation improved HCPs' neonatal resuscitation performance. Medical education may benefit by incorporating technology during simulation training.
Highlights
It is estimated that annually more than 10% of newborns around the globe require assistance to breathe on their own to make the fetal-to-neonatal transition, mainly due to drastic physiological changes from an intrauterine to extrauterine environment [1, 2]
Medical education may benefit by incorporating technology during simulation training
This indicates that the tabletop simulator picks up participants’ knowledge that may not have been totally captured by the tests in the digital simulator
Summary
It is estimated that annually more than 10% of newborns around the globe require assistance to breathe on their own to make the fetal-to-neonatal transition, mainly due to drastic physiological changes from an intrauterine to extrauterine environment [1, 2]. Healthcare professionals (HCPs) are expected to perform a series of complex interventions quickly and precisely, including suction, drying, and respiratory support, to help these newborns make the successful fetal-to-neonatal transition. In traditional medical education, students and HCPs have limited access to hands-on experiences that involve complex and rarely occurring high-risk scenarios, such as neonatal resuscitation [3,4,5]. The advancement of technology enables medical educators to overcome challenges of traditional medical education, including time constraints, space, and clinical duties. It helps create teaching opportunities for medical students and HCPs to perform high-stakes, sophisticated medical procedures using computer-based simulations [6,7,8]. Digital simulation presents a potential alternative; its effectiveness and reception by healthcare professionals (HCPs) remains largely unexplored
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