P84 "keep calm and carry on on-call": exploring the best model of simulated on-call training for final year medical students. (31st December 2017) - Toolan, M
Abstract : Background and Purpose: Simulated on-call training has been well-documented within the literature as being beneficial for students preparing to start their FY1 year but has not yet been formally adopted into all medical school curricula. Simulation is central to the Department of Health's 'Framework for Technology Enhanced Learning'. 1 It has been shown to develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes of healthcare professionals without risking patient safety. Previously at the Royal United Hospital, Bath simulated on-call teaching has been run using actors in the Simulation Centre in 2014 and as a paper-based exercise on the main hospital wards in 2016. There were benefits and drawbacks to each setting. To our knowledge no previous direct comparison of these two methods has been made. We plan to compare the use of Simulation Centre/actor-based (SAB) sessions with Hospital Ward/paper based sessions (HPB) in order to identify if either leads to a greater increase in confidence in dealing with being on-call. Methodology: We will recruit 40 final year students from the University of Bristol to take part in simulated on-call teaching while on placement at the Royal United Hospital, Bath. Students will be randomly allocated to one of the two groups as described above (SAB and HPB). Both sessions will begin and end with a simulated handover. Help will be available via the bleep system with a facilitator acting as a senior Doctor. We will conduct short focus groups after each simulated on-call, and will use pre- and post- simulation questionnaires with Likert scales to evaluate confidence among these groups. We will elicit from students whether they feel the teaching session improved their confidence in managing handover, communication (written and verbal), asking for help, task prioritisation and dealing with pressure. We will include a free text box to capture further qualitative data. Results: We will compare individual pre- and post-simulation confidence scores as well as the median scores of each group. We will use the Student's T-test (unpaired) to determine any statistical significance. We will thematically analyse the qualitative data from the questionnaire and the focus groups and will identify key themes. Discussion and Conclusions: We aim to facilitate the formal adoption of on-call simulation training into medical school curricula by investigating the best setting and form for it to take. We will draw conclusions based on our results. References: . Ramsden N, Newman J, Cooper R, et al . 'An hour on call' – simulated medical education. Future Hospital J 2016;3:41. . McTait J, Jenner L, Jakeman N, et al . Simulated on-call for final year students preparing for foundation practice . Conference Papers and Abstracts, ASME Annual Scientific Meeting 2014: p. 208.