Simulation is increasingly being used in trauma care to improve provider confidence, teamwork, and leadership skills in trauma situations. Additionally, the use of modern technology has introduced virtual reality simulation. However, simulations impact on trauma education, clinical practice, and cost effectiveness remain unclear. This review aims to synthesize current literature on the impact of simulation in trauma care education and clinical practice.

This concise review was performed utilizing five major databases: Cochrane, ProQuest, Google Scholar, PubMed, and Embase to identify relevant studies regarding the role of simulation modalities on team performance, medical education, patient outcomes, provider wellbeing, and cost-effectiveness.

This concise review analyzed 1091 articles; 21 studies met inclusion criteria. Simulations demonstrated improved team performance by decreased communication response times (21 to 15 s) and increased teamwork (4.06/5 to 4.40/5). Leadership behavior significantly improved (11.29 vs. 7.23; d = 0.92). Studies demonstrated virtual reality (VR) was non-inferior to mannequins for trauma scores (163.1 vs. 163.2), higher VR assessment scores (158.4 vs. 134.2), and AI serious games reducing under-triage by ∼18%. VR was 40% cheaper than mannequins and reduced per-participant costs ($296 vs $149). Simulation improved completion times (251 vs. 497 s), success rates (100% vs. 64%), and diagnostic accuracy ( P  = .01) in education. Indirect patient outcomes included faster secondary surveys (14 min vs 6 min) and CT prep times (23 min vs 16 min).

Simulation-based training is an effective tool in improving trauma care as evidence throughout the studies showed vast improvements in leadership, communication, efficiency in care, and provider confidence. The findings from this study demonstrate that the implementation of VR, in particular, showed tremendous educational benefits and can be a viable strategy to conventional simulation modalities due to its cost effectiveness.