The Effect of Simulation Wars on EM Residents’ Global Rating Scales and In-Training Examination Scores

PURPOSE: The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) restricted the duty hours for residents training in 2004. With less time to learn medicine, residents may not develop the clinical reasoning skills needed. Simulation can provide a remedy for this lack of time by allowing residents to practice skills and develop clinical reasoning in a simulated environment. Simulation Wars (SimWars), a clinical reasoning simulation has been shown to improve clinical reasoning skills. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of Simulation Wars on In-Training Examination (ITE) Scores and Global Rating Scale (GRS) Scores in Emergency Medicine (EM) residents. METHODS: The Quasi-Experimental design was used in this retrospective study. The main comparison was between historical controls, the residents who did not participate in the Simulation Wars, and the intervention group comprised of residents who participated in the SimWars. RESULTS: A total of 127 residents were participants in this study including 70 from the intervention and 57 from the historical control group. There were no significant differences found in GRS scores between both groups except for Communication and Professionalism (p<0.001). No overall improvement in ITE scores for the control group and for the intervention group was found. Furthermore, within the intervention group, while comparing those residents who participated in certain subcategories of SimWars and those who did not, there was a significant improvement in ITE scores in the subcategories of Thoracic Disorders, Abdominal/Gastrointestinal, Trauma Disorders and OBGyn. CONCLUSION: SimWars in the subcategories of Abdominal/Gastrointestinal, Thoracic, OBGyn and Trauma were found to be associated with improved ITE scores in those subcategories. Since Emergency Medicine utilizes extensive clinical reasoning skills, SimWars may provide better educational opportunities for EM residents.