Taylor Sawyer, DO, MEd
University of Washington School of Medicine
Background: Simulation-based learning is a rapidly growing and effective mode of medical education. The facilitated debriefing session held after a simulation are considered by many to be the most important component of simulation training. Prior reports have shown conflicting results from the use of video playback as an aid to debriefing.
Aims: The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of traditional verbal debriefing to video-enhanced debriefing on resident performance in simulated neonatal resuscitation.
Methods: Thirty two residents, divided into 16 teams of two, completed three standardized simulation sessions over a seven month period. Seven teams received traditional verbal debriefing after each simulation session and nine teams received video-enhanced debriefing. Videos of all sessions were reviewed and scored by a blinded reviewer. Performance in neonatal resuscitation and crisis resource management (CRM) were then compared to determine if video-enhanced debriefing was more effective than traditional verbal debriefing.
Results: A total of 42 simulation sessions were scored. Only the video-enhanced debriefing group showed significant improvement in neonatal resuscitation preformance from the first to the third simulation. No difference in neonatal resuscitation performance was noted between the two groups at the conclusion of the study. No improvement was seen in CRM skills in either group and there was no difference in CRM skills between the two groups.
Conclusions: Results of this study suggest that video-enhanced debriefing may be more effective than traditional verbal debriefing at improving performance in neonatal resuscitation. However, larger studies are required to determine if there are significant differences between video-enhanced and traditional verbal debriefing.
