Validating the educational efficacy of simulator-based training systems for medical personnel in combat casualty care Before a simulator is used for training or assessment purposes, there is an acute need to establish the educational efficacy of the simulator and/or the validiy of decisions made based on a person's performance with the simulator. The research proposed here focuses on the first need - evaluating the effectiveness of simulators and simulation systems in training medical personnel Simulation for medical training in either a military or civilian setting is highly desirable for a number of reasons. These reasons include but are not limited to the ready availability of "patients" to suit any training goal, the ability to evaluate students on standardized "patient" models, the reduction in reliance on live animals or expensive cadavers for training, and the ability to perform repetitive practice inexpensively without the prospect of making mistakes on real patients. Because of these advantages, simulation training is gradually gaining acceptance across all medical disciplines. We expect this emerging acceptance to accelerate with the validation of educational efficacy for Virgil and a variety of other simulators which could be validated through the same or similar method
