Logo

Log In Sign Up |  An official publication of: American College of Emergency Physicians
Navigation
  • Home
  • Multimedia
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
  • Clinical
    • Airway Managment
    • Case Reports
    • Critical Care
    • Guidelines
    • Imaging & Ultrasound
    • Pain & Palliative Care
    • Pediatrics
    • Resuscitation
    • Trauma & Injury
  • Resource Centers
    • mTBI Resource Center
  • Career
    • Practice Management
      • Benchmarking
      • Reimbursement & Coding
      • Care Team
      • Legal
      • Operations
      • Quality & Safety
    • Awards
    • Certification
    • Compensation
    • Early Career
    • Education
    • Leadership
    • Profiles
    • Retirement
    • Work-Life Balance
  • Columns
    • ACEP4U
    • Airway
    • Benchmarking
    • Brief19
    • By the Numbers
    • Coding Wizard
    • EM Cases
    • End of the Rainbow
    • Equity Equation
    • FACEPs in the Crowd
    • Forensic Facts
    • From the College
    • Images in EM
    • Kids Korner
    • Medicolegal Mind
    • Opinion
      • Break Room
      • New Spin
      • Pro-Con
    • Pearls From EM Literature
    • Policy Rx
    • Practice Changers
    • Problem Solvers
    • Residency Spotlight
    • Resident Voice
    • Skeptics’ Guide to Emergency Medicine
    • Sound Advice
    • Special OPs
    • Toxicology Q&A
    • WorldTravelERs
  • Resources
    • ACEP.org
    • ACEP Knowledge Quiz
    • Issue Archives
    • CME Now
    • Annual Scientific Assembly
      • ACEP14
      • ACEP15
      • ACEP16
      • ACEP17
      • ACEP18
      • ACEP19
    • Annals of Emergency Medicine
    • JACEP Open
    • Emergency Medicine Foundation
  • About
    • Our Mission
    • Medical Editor in Chief
    • Editorial Advisory Board
    • Awards
    • Authors
    • Article Submission
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Subscribe
    • Privacy Policy
    • Copyright Information

Simulating the Rural Emergency Medicine Physician

By Dominic Pappas, MD | on July 7, 2022 | 0 Comment
Features
  • Tweet
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
Print-Friendly Version

The landscape of medical education is evolving. Medical schools are transitioning from full days of lectures and printed copies of Harrison’s to the new age of small group, peer-directed learning with online texts and video/image-based learning. The same goes for residency training. One facet of this adaptation of our learning is the increasing use of simulation.

You Might Also Like
  • Pediatric Emergency Physicians Absent from Rural America
  • Opinion: ACEP, Society of Emergency Medicine Should Advocate for Reform of Rural Hospitals
  • Rural Hospital Closures Leave Whole Communities Without Access to Emergency Care
Explore This Issue
ACEP Now: Vol 41 – No 07 – July 2022

Learning Through Simulation

From its early origins in 1968 with Harvey, a cardiology patient simulator presented by Dr. Michael Gordon from the University of Miami Medical School, the continued advances in technology have led to simulation training becoming a preferred method of learning. In various specialties of medicine, simulation has been shown to be equally, if not more effective, compared to live scenarios.1–3 Learning through simulation has many advantages including enhancing patient safety, exposing trainees to otherwise rare medical pathology, as well as the ability to manipulate multiple variables simultaneously thereby enhancing the complexity of cases with which trainees are presented.4 Most importantly, simulation provides unlimited opportunity for repetition and pattern recognition, a crucial element in emergency medicine training.

Outside of residency, simulation training has yet to gain a foothold. There is a belief that medical centers in large urban areas are the nucleus of the medical field, where the most cutting-edge medical care is being delivered. This often implies that rural hospitals or freestanding emergency departments are lagging in the quality or type of care they provide. While practicing physicians in urban environments likely get enough exposure to maintain their procedural and clinical skills, those practicing in rural environments may have less opportunity. On average, rural emergency departments, as compared to urban ones, have fewer overall patients per hour, leading to fewer critically ill patients, less exposure to rare pathology, and less trauma resuscitation.5 Rural emergency medicine might demonstrate the greatest benefit for routine simulation training. As an adjunct to daily practice, simulation allows physicians to keep their skills sharp and prepared for live scenarios. Beyond just the individual emergency physician, simulation can be used to sharpen the dynamics within the physician-led medical team. Running a medical resuscitation or multi-patient trauma are some of the highest stress environments a medical team will face.

Simulation as a Method of Improved Care

Through simulation and subsequent analysis/reflection, staff can identify areas to improve communication, efficiency, and confidence, thus leading to improved quality of care. While most simulation centers are in urban areas, the technological advances have allowed development of less sophisticated mobile simulation units. Such units have increased the extent to which simulation training can be utilized. Research from Canada showed the use of these mobile simulation units has been well received by emergency physicians.6 While this shows progress, opportunities for simulation in rural settings are fewer and farther between compared to those in urban institutions, emphasizing the lack of supply.6

Pages: 1 2 | Single Page

Topics: EducationSimulationTechnology

Related

  • June 2025 News from the College

    June 5, 2025 - 0 Comment
  • Reader Responds: Why Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Matter in Medical Education

    October 9, 2024 - 0 Comment
  • Why Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Matter in Medical Education

    August 13, 2024 - 3 Comments

Current Issue

ACEP Now: June 2025 (Digital)

Read More

No Responses to “Simulating the Rural Emergency Medicine Physician”

Leave a Reply Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


*
*

Wiley
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy
  • Terms of Use
  • Advertise
  • Cookie Preferences
Copyright © 2025 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved, including rights for text and data mining and training of artificial technologies or similar technologies. ISSN 2333-2603