Effect of Simulation Role on Clinical Decision-Making Accuracy

• We examined clinical decision-making (CDM) accuracy among simulation roles.
• Observer role has higher levels of CDM accuracy when the situation is unfamiliar.
• Family member role has low levels of CDM accuracy when the situation is unfamiliar.
• Active and passive roles have value depending on learning outcomes.

BackgroundClinical simulation affords valuable practice with the process of clinical decision-making. Participation in the simulation experience often includes various roles (e.g., primary nurse; observer) as well as familiar and unfamiliar situations.MethodThis study used a quantitative, mixed factorial design.ResultsRole did not impact clinical decision-making accuracy on the familiar situation. On the unfamiliar situation, observers outperformed other roles, whereas family members were markedly less accurate.ConclusionThese results emphasize the need for students to rotate through various roles and for educators to consider the nature and goal of the scenario when deciding what types of roles to assign.