Effectiveness of a centrally designed, large-scale, multi-site undergraduate medical simulation programme: student-reported confidence across eight London hospitals in a UK medical school setting
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Objectives Simulation is well established in medical education. However, with rising numbers of medical students globally, provision of high-quality, equitable simulation teaching on a large, multisite scale is increasingly challenging. We sought to explore whether a centrally designed, multisite simulation programme could enhance student confidence equitably across multiple clinical sites with differing resources.
Design An evaluative study on the changes in medical student confidence on defined intended learning outcomes (ILOs) in 3 undergraduate year groups across 11 simulation sessions delivered at eight different clinical sites with variable resources and facilitators.
Setting Eight hospitals affiliated with Imperial College School of Medicine.
Outcomes Students’ self-reported confidence in achieving the ILOs via a questionnaire at the end of each session. Changes in confidence following each session were analysed and compared across sites.
Results 522 students responded to the survey over 3 academic years. Students’ mean confidence in achieving ILOs increased in all sessions. Nine out of 10 sessions showed no statistically significant difference in the confidence increases between sites.
Conclusion Our study suggests it is possible to deliver an equitable, centrally designed, large-scale simulation teaching programme to medical students across multiple clinical sites with different facilitator teams. The programme is sustainable, easily facilitated by new teaching fellows each year and is likely adaptable to other healthcare professions and settings.
Design An evaluative study on the changes in medical student confidence on defined intended learning outcomes (ILOs) in 3 undergraduate year groups across 11 simulation sessions delivered at eight different clinical sites with variable resources and facilitators.
Setting Eight hospitals affiliated with Imperial College School of Medicine.
Outcomes Students’ self-reported confidence in achieving the ILOs via a questionnaire at the end of each session. Changes in confidence following each session were analysed and compared across sites.
Results 522 students responded to the survey over 3 academic years. Students’ mean confidence in achieving ILOs increased in all sessions. Nine out of 10 sessions showed no statistically significant difference in the confidence increases between sites.
Conclusion Our study suggests it is possible to deliver an equitable, centrally designed, large-scale simulation teaching programme to medical students across multiple clinical sites with different facilitator teams. The programme is sustainable, easily facilitated by new teaching fellows each year and is likely adaptable to other healthcare professions and settings.
Date Issued
2025-09-01
Date Acceptance
2025-08-18
Citation
BMJ Open, 2025, 15 (9)
ISSN
2044-6055
Publisher
BMJ Publishing Group
Journal / Book Title
BMJ Open
Volume
15
Issue
9
Copyright Statement
© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2025. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ Group. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.
License URL
Identifier
10.1136/bmjopen-2024-094222
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
ARTN e094222
Date Publish Online
2025-09-09