Simulation in clinical education: a reflective and critical account

Abstract

Simulation. A complex tool employed to immerse learners in a reality created specifically to elicit actions, behaviours and thought processes which can then be discussed with peers and reflected upon by the learner immediately and at leisure. This was my understanding of what simulation has to offer as an educational intervention. I viewed simulation through the lens of Honey and Mumford's (1986) experiential learning typology, seeing it satisfy all four learning styles - activist and reflector most obviously so, but theorist because of the observational element and pragmatist as the scenario unravels. It externalises what is often the internal parts of the cycle – reflection and abstract conceptualisation – through the debriefing process. I also believed that high fidelity environments offered the greatest return in terms of learning – being rather dismissive of lower fidelity tools. However, through active observation of simulation – both in a setting I am familiar with (mannequin based scenarios) and in one I am not (dental student lab-based simulation) – I am recognising that this view may be only a small aspect of what simulation has to offer and that fidelity is not everything.