Fixed versus variable practice for teaching medical students the management of pediatric asthma exacerbations using simulation

Simulation-based trainings represent an interesting approach to teach medical students the management of pediatric asthma exacerbations (PAEs). In this study, we compared two pedagogical approaches, training students once on three different scenarios of PAEs versus training students three times on the same scenario of PAE. Eighty-five third-year medical students, novice learners for the management of PAEs, were randomized and trained. Students were assessed twice, 1 week and 4 months after the training, on a scenario of PAE new to both groups and on scenarios used during the training. The main outcome was the performance score on the new scenario of PAE at 1 week, assessed on a checklist custom-designed for the study. All students progressed rapidly and acquired excellent skills. One week after the training, there was no difference between the two groups on all the scenarios tested, including the new scenario of PAE (median performance score (IQR) of 8.3 (7.4–10.0) in the variation group versus 8.0 (6.0–10.0) in the repetition group (p = 0.16)). Four months later, the performance of the two groups remained similar.