Multidisciplinary simulation study reports higher resident confidence and selective knowledge gains

A study observed within a longitudinal, multidisciplinary simulation curriculum found increased confidence among internal medicine residents serving as rapid medical response team leaders, alongside statistically significant knowledge improvements in pharmacology, post-arrest care and tracheostomy management. The findings, summarized in the BMC Medical Education abstract, were uneven across domains and cannot be attributed to the curriculum alone because post-curriculum survey respondents reported substantially more real-world response-team experience than pre-curriculum respondents.

Researchers developed six workshops over two years for internal medicine residents, nurses and pharmacists. The cases incorporated advanced cardiac life support emergencies, debriefing and educational sessions, together with retrospective rapid response team data, institutional policies and logistical constraints. Workshops used fully equipped simulation suites with either high-fidelity manikins or standardized patients. For the reported analysis, the researchers observed three workshops and collected data from 12 cases involving 191 non-unique learners.

Resident confidence was assessed through unpaired surveys completed by 58 respondents before the curriculum and 24 after it. Confidence in leading rapid medical response teams increased significantly, with a reported p value of 0.01. The response imbalance and greater real-world clinical exposure among post-curriculum respondents limit causal interpretation, so the abstract characterizes the change as potentially reflecting both curricular exposure and accumulated clinical experience rather than a curriculum-only effect.

Knowledge changes were selective. Pre- and post-curriculum scores improved significantly for pharmacology, post-arrest care and tracheostomy management, but not for cardiac rhythm recognition, cardiac rhythm management, noninvasive ventilation or basic life support. One basic life support item declined significantly. In simulated ventricular fibrillation or pulseless ventricular tachycardia cases, the response teams met national benchmarks for all observed resuscitation process measures; however, these performance results were descriptive, based on simulated conditions, and lacked both a pre-curriculum baseline and a control group. The abstract concludes that further investigation is needed to determine which resuscitation domains benefit most from simulation-based education and whether multimodal approaches improve areas that did not show significant gains.

Subject of Research: Multidisciplinary simulation education for resident rapid medical response team leaders

Article Title: The Code Curriculum: multidisciplinary simulation-based workshops designed to improve resident knowledge and confidence as rapid response leaders

Article References: Auge-Bronersky, K., Khosla, S., Barac, T., Pabon, C., Henry, J., & Brillante, C. (2026). The Code Curriculum: multidisciplinary simulation-based workshops designed to improve resident knowledge and confidence as rapid response leaders. BMC Medical Education. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-026-09478-z

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s12909-026-09478-z

Keywords: medical simulation, resident education, rapid response teams, simulation-based learning, clinical confidence, knowledge assessment, resuscitation, multidisciplinary training, Code, Curriculum, multidisciplinary, simulation-based