Medical students' perception of residents as teachers: comparing effectiveness of residents and faculty during simulation debriefings.

Background: Simulation can enhance undergraduate medical education. However, the number of faculty facilitators needed for observation and debriefing can limit its use with medical students. The goal of this study was to compare the effectiveness of emergency medicine (EM) residents with that of EM faculty in facilitating postcase debriefings.

Methods: The EM clerkship at Indiana University School of Medicine requires medical students to complete one 2-hour mannequin-based simulation session. Groups of 5 to 6 students participated in 3 different simulation cases immediately followed by debriefings. Debriefings were led by either an EM faculty volunteer or EM resident volunteer. The Debriefing Assessment for Simulation in Healthcare (DASH) participant form was completed by students to evaluate each individual providing the debriefing.

Results: In total, 273 DASH forms were completed (132 EM faculty evaluations and 141 EM resident evaluations) for 7 faculty members and 9 residents providing the debriefing sessions. The mean total faculty DASH score was 32.42 and mean total resident DASH score was 32.09 out of a possible 35. There were no statistically significant differences between faculty and resident scores overall (P  =  .36) or by case type (P trauma  =  .11, P medical  =  .19, P pediatrics  =  .48).

Conclusions: EM residents were perceived to be as effective as EM faculty in debriefing medical students in a mannequin-based simulation experience. The use of residents to observe and debrief students may allow additional simulations to be incorporated into undergraduate curricula and provide valuable teaching opportunities for residents.