Simulation Wars: A Competition to Increase Participation in Emergency Manuals Simulation Training and a Novel Tool for Rating Simulation Competitions

Abstract

Background: Emergency Manuals (EMs) are valuable tools to guide healthcare professionals during anesthesia-related emergencies that require prompt diagnosis and effective treatment. Its use has been shown to improve simulated and actual patient outcomes in various operating room (OR) critical scenarios. However, integration of EMs into the standard practice of OR crises has been particularly challenging. Methods: The Simulation Wars was a competition created in China to increase awareness of EMs, the use of EMs among multidisciplinary teams, and to promote health care professional participation in EM simulation training. Each participant completed a post-competi-tion questionnaire detailing their opinions about the event. A novel scoring system was created and tested for use in simulation competitions. Results: Ninety-three percent of participants agreed that this competition could enhance the participation of simulation training in multidisciplinary health professionals and that they would continue participating in their hospital simulation training. The novel scoring system exhibited high internal consistency and good reliability. There is a strong positive correlation between the judges ’ score and the participants ’ score as R = 0.862, P = 0.013. Conclusion: The Simulation Wars can increase participants ’ understanding of how and why to use EMs, and enhance participation of multidisciplinary teams. The scoring system created for the competition has shown good reliability and justifies further development and evaluation. ABSTRACT