Evaluación de la retención del aprendizaje obtenido mediante simulación en competencias procedimentales transversales

Introduction: Given a progressively more restricted clinical context, also strongly oriented to the minimization of risk for patients, the exposure of medical students to procedures in patients has gradually decreased. Medical simulation allows training and acquisition of procedural skills, however the retention of this knowledge through time has not been widely studied. Objective: To assess the retention of transversal procedural skills once trained in simulation. Material and methods: An evaluation tool was elaborated in order to assess transversal procedural competencies, defined as those common and needed abilities to perform most of invasive medical procedures. Medical students were included in their eighth semester, who had received simulation training in these competencies during their sixth semester. The assessment tool was applied through an objective structured clinical evaluation to the selected students. results: 108 students were included. The average achievement percentage for the set of transversal competences was 95.83% in the initial evaluation and 91.31% for the final evaluation (approximately one year later). The percentage of final achievement was not correlated with that obtained in the initial assessment, not with previous exposure to procedures or age. conclusions: About one year after the training, an acceptable percentage of achievement was demonstrated in the realization of the transversal skills trained, evaluated by means of an objective structured clinical evaluation. The knowledge acquired is retained for a considerable period even when the skills learned are not practiced regularly in a real clinical setting.