The Use of Simulation Best Practices When Investigating Virtual Simulation in Health care: A Scoping Review

The use of virtual simulation in health professional education has seen rapid advancement. Considering critiques of health care simulation in general, it is prudent to ask if virtual simulation is being tested and implemented optimally, especially with the rapid development and enthusiasm for the modality. This scoping review was conducted to understand better if simulation best practices are being applied when designing and investigating virtual simulation. We set search limits to ensure that recent and higher-quality studies were considered. We screened 171 articles, with ten articles selected for inclusion in the final review. We found that simulation best practices related to outcomes and objectives, simulation design, facilitation, prebriefing, and debriefing are generally not followed or not reported when investigating virtual simulation. Adhering to and reporting simulation best practices while designing and investigating virtual simulation can enhance the external validity of the research and improve virtual simulation in practice.Cite this article: Violato, E., MacPherson, J., Edwards, M., MacPherson, C. & Renaud, M. (2023, Month). The Use of Simulation Best Practices When Investigating Virtual Simulation in Health care: A Scoping Review. Clinical Simulation in Nursing , 79, 28-39. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecns.2023. 03.001 .(c) 2023 International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation and Learning. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.