ABSTRACT
The use of simulation as an educational tool is becoming increasingly prevalent in health care practice. Institutions have adopted simulations to help educate their students and health care professionals; however, intervention effectiveness evaluation continues to be an area requiring research. With use of this technology, it has become necessary to evaluate this method of educating health care professionals. As simulation use has increased, so has the literature related to evaluation of the innovative teaching method. A systematic review of the literature examined the effectiveness of simulation as a teaching tool. The aim was to evaluate current literature on the use of clinical simulation in health care education. The findings identify themes in the evaluation literature, highlight gaps in the literature as it pertains to evaluating the effectiveness of using simulations as a teaching tool, and support the need for further research into the evaluation of simulation as a teaching tool.
AUTHOR
Received: August 9, 2008
Accepted: February 4, 2009
Posted: August 28, 2009
Ms. Harder is Coordinator, Learning Laboratories, Faculty of Nursing, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
The author thanks Drs. M. Carbonaro and S. King, University of Alberta, for their patience and feedback in conducting this review.
Address correspondence to B. Nicole Harder, RN, MPA, Coordinator, Learning Laboratories, Faculty of Nursing, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3T 2N2; e-mail: nicole_harder@umanitoba.ca.
doi:10.3928/01484834-20090828-08
