Status quo of the simulated patient and its use in telesimulation

Abstract

Simulated patients (SP) are protagonists of realistic scenarios with important emotional load for the health area. The COVID-19 pandemic limited in-person education using clinical simulation. This systematic review identified primary sources of information with the use of SP in telesimulation scenarios through a search of
the terms “telesimulation”, “patient simulation”, “simulated patient”, “standardized patient”, on the platforms PubMed, ClinicalKey, Ebsco and OvidSP and “telesimulación”, “paciente simulado” and “paciente estandarizado” in Scielo and Medigraphic. Systematic and narrative reviews, meta-analyses, randomized controlled trials and clinical trials published between January 2020 and June 2023 aimed at the use of SP in telesimulation scenarios were selected. As a result, 242 potential articles
were found, 81.81% in English and 18.18% in Spanish, reviewing 48 full text and 12 articles for qualitative synthesis of which, 4 were included manually.
COVID-19 triggered the use of video conferencing platforms as alternative for health education. The evidence provided during the pandemic period demonstrates that telesimulation SP has advantages associated with the cost of design, implementation
and development of complex scenarios, as well as the improvement of soft and cognitive skills such as obtaining clinical records, interpreting diagnostic studies and medical prescription. However, its low realism, impossibility of performing face-to-face
procedures with the patient and dependence on a stable internet prevent it from replacing simulation with the use of in-person SP.