Simulation-Based Comprehensive Cleft Care Workshops: A Reproducible Model for Sustainable Education.

OBJECTIVE

Evaluate simulation-based comprehensive cleft care workshops as a reproducible model for education with sustained impact.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional survey-based evaluation.

SETTING

Simulation-based comprehensive cleft care workshop.

PARTICIPANTS

Total of 180 participants.

INTERVENTIONS

Three-day simulation-based comprehensive cleft care workshop.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Number of workshop participants stratified by specialty, satisfaction with the workshop, satisfaction with simulation-based workshops as educational tools, impact on cleft surgery procedural confidence, short-term impact on clinical practice, medium-term impact on clinical practice.

RESULTS

The workshop included 180 participants from 5 continents. The response rate was 54.5%, with participants reporting high satisfaction with all aspects of the workshop and with simulation-based workshops as educational tools. Participants reported a significant improvement in cleft lip (33.3 ± 5.7 vs 25.7 ± 7.6; < .001) and palate (32.4 ± 7.1 vs 23.7 ± 6.6; < .001) surgery procedural confidence following the simulation sessions. Participants also reported a positive short-term and medium-term impact on their clinical practices.

CONCLUSION

Simulation-based comprehensive cleft care workshops are well received by participants, lead to improved cleft surgery procedural confidence, and have a sustained positive impact on participants' clinical practices. Future efforts should focus on evaluating and quantifying this perceived positive impact, as well reproducing these efforts in other areas of need.