Table 2 Summary of clinically relevant activities, operational definitions, and identified examples

Use of physical clinical tools and artifacts

Physical items that are present in the simulated setting that form the simulated system that student participants may interact with or utilize to achieve their goals

Patient simulator, standardized participant, diagnostic tools (e.g., stethoscope), and diagnostic findings (e.g., lab results, vital signs)

Social interactions

Exchanges that student participants have with others in the simulated context, such as peers, standardized patients and other simulated participants (e.g., patient, patient’s support person, anesthesiologist). Social interactions are also considered tools that student participants interact with or use to achieve their goals.

Diagnostic questioning, education and counseling, social and emotional support, and situational management

Structured interventions

Activities that student participants perform that are governed by a set of predetermined rules guiding the processes of how or when they are used.

Diagnostic activities (e.g., auscultation, palpation), therapeutic interventions (e.g., medication administration), and patient safety practices (e.g., hand hygiene)