Anesthesia Simulation Boot Camp—a Decade of Experience Enhancing Self-efficacy in First-year Residents
Christina R. Miller, Eric M. Jackson, Benjamin Lee, Allan Gottschalk, Adam Schiavi
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Novice anesthesiology residents must acquire new technical, cognitive, and behavioral skills as they transition into the high-stakes perioperative environment. Simulation-based education improves procedural skill and behavior, and it permits deliberate practice with feedback; exposure to uncommon, high-consequence events; assessment; reproducibility; and zero risk to patients. We introduced a 5-day, high-fidelity Simulation Boot Camp (SBC) in 2006 for first-year clinical anesthesia residents (CA-1s) and report over a decade of experience assessing its impact on self-efficacy, value, feasibility, and sustainability. METHODS: All CA-1s in our residency program participated in the SBC as part of orientation. Participants completed 2 individual high-fidelity simulations per day, each with a private debriefing session from an attending anesthesiologist in our simulation center. We measured their self-reported confidence, which we report as self-efficacy (SE), the belief in one's own ability to successfully execute a skill or behavior necessary for a desired outcome, for 25 basic anesthesia skills before and after course completion. Participants also completed a postcourse evaluation. RESULTS: = .041). Participants strongly agreed SBC was a realistic and nonjudgmental learning tool, built confidence, and should be mandatory. Most comments were positive, reflecting overall satisfaction with SBC. CONCLUSIONS: SBC increases SE, is feasible, valuable to participants, and sustainable with remarkably consistency over the study period.