Harvey: The impact of a cardiovascular teaching simulator on student skill acquisition

Harvey, a life-sized cardiovascular patient simulator which depicts the auscultatory, tactile and visual findings for a broad range of cardiac problems was used as an adjunct to a standard sophomore physical skills course. Significant gains, as measured by a pre-posttest, were found in overall scores as well as in assessment and interpretation of carotid pulses and precordial auscultation. There were no significant changes in jugular venous pulse or precordial motion assessment. There were no significant correlations between student perceptions of skills gained and objective test measurements. This study underscores the need for cardiovascular examination skills training and confirms the utility of a simulator such as Harvey in developing these abilities. The lack of correlation between perceived improvements and actual changes highlights the need for objective evaluations of educational endeavours. Use of a simulator such as Harvey presents the student with the opportunity to compare and contrast cardiovascular findings in a time and faculty resource efficient fashion.