Impact of Immersive Clinical Simulation on Knowledge Acquisition

Background: The goal of this research report is to validate the impact of immersive clinical simulations on knowledge acquisition.

Methodology: This prospective, multicenter study is based on a quasi-experimental type of evaluative research. The participants in the experimental group were taught using a series of four progressive Immersive Clinical Simulations (ICS)-assisted lessons, while those in the control group were taught using traditional methods. All participants also wrote two exams about their cardiology knowledge: version A pretest conditions and version B post-test conditions.

Results: A total of 177 participants (N=177) were involved in this research project, including 93 (n=93) in the experimental group and 84 (n=84) in the control group. Under pretest conditions, the results obtained by the two groups of version A of the questionnaire are statistically equivalent (p=.63). Under post-test conditions, participants in the experimental group scored significantly higher (p=.002).

Conclusion: The results of this research further confirm the impact of simulations on knowledge acquisition.

Keywords: clinical simulation, high-fidelity clinical simulation, knowledge acquisition process, clinical knowledge, clinical reasoning, cardiology, Rasch model.