Making the Clinical Connection from Textbook to Bedside during MDY1: An Integrative Approach for Medical Physiology Education Employing Human Simulation

Although human patient simulation (HPS) began more than a decade ago, substantial evidence argues for increased use of simulation in teaching basic science courses, such as physiology and the full integration of simulation into medical school curricula so as to benefit both educators and learners. The introduction and application of simulation in medical education is considered to be one of the most important steps in curriculum development. One of the main concerns with widespread use of simulation during the nonclinical phase curricula is the prerequisite for highly trained simulationists and dedicated facilities capable of supporting the development and implementation of conceptualized scenarios emulating human physiology. At Howard University College of Medicine (HUCM), physiologists, clinicians, and simulationists recently implemented a case-based simulation for first-year medical students (MDY1) enrolled in a structure and function (S&F) basic science anatomy and physiology course. From the pedagogical point of view, simulation was employed as a means of linking didactic lecture objectives with specific clinical skills used for cardiorespiratory clinical evaluation. The focus was on interdisciplinary integration employing medical simulation as a complementary teaching tool for medical physiology and correlation of clinical skills germane to patient assessment. This article summarizes voluntary feedback for each of the five simulation evaluation categories obtained from MDY1 students, where researchers hypothesized that students would view the simulations as an effective teaching tool for the integration of didactic lecture objectives with clinical skills, and an acceptable pedagogical approach for MDY1 learners. This study lends support to existing evidence indicating that HPS, computer-assisted instruction, and advanced technologies have tremendous potential when meticulously linked to basic science learning objectives, thereby making simulation an attractive and effective teaching approach, especially for MDY1 learners.