Debriefing with Team Deliberate Practice: Maximising Delivery and Optimising Participant Learning in Simulation Based Education

Background - Despite a growing evidence base for the use of simulation as a learning and teaching methodology Anderson and colleagues1 found a wide variation in the quality of delivery and recommended further research into the those instructional design features that enhance learning. A challenge to simulation educators as the approach is both expensive and resource intensive2. A literature review identified the deliberate practice framework3 offered a possible solution. The author developed an enhancement entitled debriefing with team deliberate practice (DwTDP), which incorporated the key elements of both debriefing and deliberate practice into an innovative educational strategy.
Methodology - Using a quasi-experimental longitudinal pre-post design, the researcher explored the effect of DwTDP on the performance, knowledge and self-efficacy of second year adult nursing students (N = 93). Naturally occurring student groups were randomised into either the intervention arm (n = 8), and received the DwTDP enhancement, or the comparison arm (n = 8) who received a traditional SBE experience.
Results - Data was collected at three time points and analyzed using a series of statistical techniques. A mixed ANOVA analysis identified that over time DwTDP led to a statistically significant improvement in the performance of participants (F(1, 6) = 19.12, p = .005). No statistically significant effects were found in the knowledge and self-efficacy of participants. 
Conclusion - The author concluded that the DwTDP intervention was a viable approach to use within nurse education that would maximize the use of available resources whilst optimising student learning, thus recommending that this approach should be used within nursing curricula. 
References1.Anderson, A., Baxendale, B., Scott, L., Mossley, D., & Glover, G. (2014). The National Simulation Development Project: Summary Report.2.Al-Ghareeb, A. Z., & Cooper, S. J. (2016). Barriers and enablers to the use of high-fidelity patient simulation manikins in nurse education: an integrative review. Nurse Educ Today, 36, 281-286.3.Ericsson, K. A. (2004). Deliberate Practice and the Acquisition and Maintenance of Expert Performance in Medicine and Related Domains. Academic Medicine, 79(10), S70-S81.