Research agenda: standardize reporting, run comparative efficacy studies, and track longitudinal transfer to clinical practice¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

The review's implications section sets three priorities for future work: standardizing terminology and reporting (suggesting the ReMERM guidelines as a starting point), conducting head-to-head comparative efficacy studies of instructional design features using its four-theme framework, and building longitudinal studies that follow learners from simulation into clinical practice to evaluate transfer and patient care effects. The authors call this "a cohesive research agenda" spanning education and health services research.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• sustained, cumulative, thematic research effort rather than isolated studies

Constraints¶

• the review found high variability in reporting quality, with missing information making analysis difficult, and did not systematically track selective reporting

Target Learners¶

• health professions education researchers and curriculum designers

Target Learning Goals¶

• identifying the instructional design features that produce procedural competency efficiently and effectively

Related Strategies¶

• Prioritize multicenter, competency-oriented studies in Surgical Instrumentation students testing retention, transfer and objective assessment
• Develop standardized simulation-based leadership curricula with longitudinal evaluation and multi-center randomized comparison of formats
• Future RSE research should standardise terminology, fully describe pedagogy, and use rigorous evaluation
• Adopt more precise terminology such as digital personalized learning (DPL) or personalized adaptive learning, and pursue rigorous longitudinal research with younger learners
• Prioritize longitudinal studies tracking trainees from simulation to real-world surgical performance
• Prioritize multicenter, randomized designs with standardized reporting and longitudinal follow-up in future surgical education research
• Future online-training trials should follow TIDieR reporting, match comparison arms on duration and content, use Kirkpatrick's outcome hierarchy, and run factorial experiments optimising online features
• Future research agenda: detailed BCT-coded systematic review, primary qualitative examination of patient experience, and economic analysis within trials

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Vermylen JH, Cohen ER, Cook DA, McGaghie WC, Issenberg SB, Arnold J, Ballard H, Bayoumi M, Beestrum M, Bremner R, Crawford S, Einstein N, Mannarino C, Misra A, Tomita TM, Waldron H, Yanko F, Kessler DO. (2026). Competency-Based Simulation Training for Procedural Skills: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Simulation in Healthcare. https://doi.org/10.1097/SIH.0000000000000895