Effectiveness of early cardiology undergraduate learning using simulation on retention, application of learning and level of confidence during clinical clerkships.

INTRODUCTION: This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of the use of a cardiopulmonary patient simulator in the teaching of second-year medical students. Effectiveness was measured in terms of the extent of knowledge retention and students' ability to apply the skills learned in subsequent real-life patient contact.
METHODS: In this study, ten third-year medical students who had previously undergone simulator training as part of their second-year curriculum underwent an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) and a multiple-choice question (MCQ) test to assess their ability to apply the knowledge gained during the simulator training when dealing with real patients. The performance of this group of students was compared with that of a group of ten fourth-year medical students who did not undergo simulation training.
RESULTS: Although the third-year medical students performed well in the OSCE, they were outperformed by the group of fourth-year medical students, who had an extra year of clinical exposure. The MCQ scores of the two groups of students were similar. Post-simulation training survey revealed that students were generally in favour of incorporating cardiopulmonary simulator training in the preclinical curriculum.
CONCLUSION: Cardiopulmonary simulator training is a useful tool for the education of preclinical medical students. It aids the translation of preclinical knowledge into real-life clinical skills.