Perception of Medical Students on Face-to-Face and Virtual Simulation during the Pandemic: An Analytical Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Introduction: Due to the pandemic, academic challenges arose, and virtual simulation was used to replace the clinical experiences, offering innovative learning strategies and standardized teaching. Objective: To compare the perception and the level of satisfaction in the acquisition of knowledge, abilities and skills through face-to-face and virtual simulation among medical students. Methods: Analytical cross-sectional study including medical students who received virtual and face-to-face simulation practices. A survey was conducted to investigate the sociodemographic and academic characteristics, institutional physical conditions, self-assessment regarding the acquisition of technical and soft skills, and quality and satisfaction with clinical simulation. Results: 105 students with a median age of 22 years were included, who reported greater acquisition of technical skills through face-to-face simulation compared to the virtual modality. In-person simulation resulted in an 85% mastery of some topics compared to virtual simulation (65.7%, p < 0.001). However, for medication presentation and dosage scenarios, 80% reported mastery of the topic through virtual practice compared to 53.3% in the face-to-face modality (p < 0.001). The development of soft skills was similar in both scenarios, such as problem solving (83.8%), effective communication (78.1%), among others. Conclusions: Clinical simulation is crucial to medical training, its face-to-face application is perceived as the most suitable way to use it in the educational environment.