usage of high-fidelity simulation among preclinical medical students in the auscultation of respiratory system

Background: high-fidelity simulation has emerged as an effective educational tool in preclinical medical training, particularly for skills related to the auscultation of the respiratory system.objectives: the study aimed to evaluate the impact of simulation on improving auscultation skills in respiratory system examinations among preclinical medical students and to gather views from facilitators and students on the simulation-based teaching and learning process.methods: an experimental pre-post study was conducted in a simulation lab of a teaching hospital between march and april 2018 among preclinical mbbs students. a total of 146 students were taken in batches of 50 to the clinical simulation lab. following exposure to a simulation-based teaching module, they were subjected to post-intervention skill assessments on the high-fidelity simulators. the pre- and post-scores were compared to measure the impact of the teaching module using paired t-tests. the students' perspectives of the current module were compared using the chi-square test (significance at p<0.05) and interpreted with the help of a pre-validated, researcher-made questionnaire.results: pre- and post-intervention scores in the ability to identify breathing sounds (2.05 ± 0.85 and 2.98 ± 0.14) and added sounds (0.40 ± 0.74 and 1.96 ± 0.23) were statistically significant (p<0.001).a statistically significant difference in identifying differences in vesicular/bronchial and vesicular breathing and between wheezing and ba/copd breathing was observed (p<0.001).conclusion: the medical students perceived high-fidelity simulation-based medical education as a beneficial teaching modality that improved performance. however, more research is required to determine the utility of this modality in a developing country like india.