Introduction
Psychiatric simulation training(PST) has been implemented in Community Psychiatric Service (CPS) of Hong Kong East Cluster since 2018. Over the years the training has been developed not only for staff working in out-patient settings, but also for staff working in in-patient settings which involved the participation of psychiatrists, nurses, medical social worker and occupational therapist. In 2023, a cross-cluster PST with CPS of New Territories East Cluster was performed, in view that the development of PST was mature enough to look for outcome evaluation, a study on the effectiveness of PST for staff working in community setting with collaboration with The Hong Kong Polytechnic University was conducted.
Objectives
To assess the change of caring attitude, clinical competence, and team efficacy of participants trained by psychiatric simulation training from pre-intervention to post intervention and follow-ups at 1-, 3- and 6-month
To explore the experience of psychiatric simulation training on(i)Caring attitude, (ii) Clinical competence, and (iii) Team efficacy from the perspective of both participants and psychiatric simulation trainers
To explore the effectiveness of psychiatric simulation training on (i)Caring attitude, (ii) Clinical competence, and (iii)Team efficacy from the perspective of both participants and psychiatric simulation trainers
Methodologies
Both quantitative and qualitative approach has been adopted in data collection in the study. Human factor skills for healthcare instrument (HuFSHI) and Self-evaluation form of skill competence were used to collect participants(n=56)' rating upon pre- & post-training, 1-month, 3-month and 6-month intervals. 6 focus group interviews were conducted 1 month after the training where interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim for analysis.
Results
Both quantitative and qualitative findings indicate positive changes in participants' performance in caring attitude, team efficacy, and clinical competence. Quantitative study demonstrated significant differences in those dimensions at various time points, and qualitative study summarized the findings in terms of considering perceived improvements in the three domains.
Conclusions
The findings advocate the development of simulation training as a routine practice within community psychiatric healthcare professional development to foster professional competence and service improvement.
