Effect of simulation on cognitive load in health care professionals and students : protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this review is to assess the effect of simulation activities and their design features on cognitive load in health care professionals and students.

Introduction: Simulation activities are now widely implemented in health care professionals’ education. However, the mechanisms by which simulations and their design features lead to health care professionals’ and students’ learning remains unclear. Still, because of their high interactivity and complexity, simulation activities have the potential to impact the cognitive load of learners. Synthesizing evidence regarding this phenomenon could help simulation educators identify the design features that affect learners’ cognitive load, and explain why some simulation activities are more effective than others.

Inclusion criteria: This review will consider experimental and quasi-experimental studies in which the effect of a simulation activity on cognitive load in health care professionals or students from any discipline or level of practice is evaluated. All academic and health settings will be included.

Methods: Following the guidelines of the JBI methods for systematic reviews of effectiveness, CINAHL, Embase, ERIC, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and Web of Science will be searched for studies published in English or French, without a date limit. Retrieved studies will be independently screened for inclusion, then critically appraised for methodological quality by two reviewers using standardized JBI tools. Data extraction will be done independently using adapted tools from JBI. Where possible, data will be pooled using meta-analytical methods.