Simulated clinical placements in health care education: a scoping review and evidence and gap map protocol.

Objective: This protocol details the methods for a scoping review that will examine the evidence on the design, implementation, delivery, and evaluation of simulated clinical placements.

Introduction: Clinical placements allow health professions students to apply theoretical knowledge in clinical settings. For various economical, practical, and preferential reasons, some programs and institutions have trialed and established simulated clinical placements.

Inclusion criteria: The review will include sources that have examined the design, implementation, delivery, and evaluation of simulated clinical placements in tertiary undergraduate and postgraduate education programs for health professions. Primary research studies, evidence syntheses, discussion articles, and commentaries will be included.

Methods: The review will be conducted according to the JBI guidance for scoping reviews and reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR). The following electronic databases will be searched: PubMed (NCBI), Embase (Elsevier), CINAHL Plus with Full Text (EBSCOhost), and PsycINFO (EBSCOhost). Forward and backward citation searching of the included evidence sources will be conducted. At least 2 reviewers will assess sources for eligibility at title and abstract, and full-text screening stage, and extract data from included sources. Data will be analyzed using qualitative content analysis and frequencies and will be presented as a narrative summary. Data will also be presented in an evidence and gap map, and as tables and other visual summaries.

Review registration: Open Science Framework https://osf.io/dy4g6.