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Teaching Psychiatric Emergencies Using Simulation: an Experience During the Boot Camp

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Abstract

Objective

The purpose of this study is to prepare fourth-year medical students to recognize psychiatric emergencies using simulation technology. The learning experience is accomplished during the boot camp activity designed to train fourth-year medical students in different competencies before transitioning to residency.

Methods

Ninety-eight fourth-year medical students at Paul L. Foster School of Medicine participated in the boot camp during the 2018–2019 academic year. The participation of the Department of Psychiatry was for a total of four full days divided into 3-h morning and 3-h afternoon sessions with the average of four students per hour per session. The use of high-fidelity simulation and standardized patients to recreate two different clinical scenarios representing acute psychiatric emergencies, followed by structured debriefing, was implemented. Pre- and post-qualitative surveys, which were electronically available via Qualtrics, intended to assess the effectiveness of the curriculum and course teaching modalities during the boot camp.

Results

All participants reported improvement on levels of confidence in diagnosis and management of psychiatric emergencies compared with baseline. Overall a statistically significant increase in the Likert score was noted in the post-survey analysis.

Conclusions

Teaching psychiatric emergencies utilizing high-fidelity simulation and standardized patient encounters improved student confidence in several competencies. The increase in student confidence can potentially help the learner in transitioning better to residency.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Texas Tech University Health Science Center El Paso, 5001 El Paso Drive, El Paso, TX, 79905, USA

    Liza Dominguez-Colman, Shivani U. Mehta, Shiva Mansourkhani, Jonathan Mariscal & Silvina Tonarelli

  2. Department of Emergency Medicine, Texas Tech University Health Science Center El Paso, El Paso, TX, USA

    Neha Sehgal

  3. Biostatistics and Epidemiology Consulting Lab, Texas Tech University Health Science Center El Paso, El Paso, TX, USA

    Luis A. Alvarado

Authors
  1. Liza Dominguez-Colman
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  2. Shivani U. Mehta
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  3. Shiva Mansourkhani
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  4. Neha Sehgal
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  5. Luis A. Alvarado
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  6. Jonathan Mariscal
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  7. Silvina Tonarelli
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Silvina Tonarelli.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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The study was exempt by IRB.

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Dominguez-Colman, L., Mehta, S.U., Mansourkhani, S. et al. Teaching Psychiatric Emergencies Using Simulation: an Experience During the Boot Camp. Med.Sci.Educ. 30, 1481–1486 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40670-020-01095-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40670-020-01095-9

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