Background:

The current COVID-19 pandemic poses additional challenges to clinical teaching by affecting the normal development of onsite activities. Solutions are necessary to mitigate these effects.

Objective:

The aim of this study is to present a telesimulation (TS strategy) and analyze the instructional design perspective of undergraduate students of surgery.

Material and methods:

Twenty-six students participated in the experience, immersed in high-fidelity virtual scenarios through a video conference platform in which they could experience and analyze critical situations and decide a therapeutic plan. Data analysis was carried out using a quantitative-qualitative approach, focusing on the participants’ experiences reported in a satisfaction survey, debriefing transcriptions (reflective stage) and an open-ended question about the perception of learning aimed at analyzing the activity in terms of the opportunities to learn clinical reasoning, non-technical skills and the attributes of the method as perceived by the students.

Results:

All the students would recommend the activity to another peer. During debriefing, the aspects of performance related with the diagnostic hypothesis, complementary investigation, treatment and non-technical skills emerge. Furthermore, there was a perception of learning beyond that offered by content reading.

Conclusion

: Telesimulation as a learning opportunity favors clinical teaching. Although TS can achieve high fidelity as a technique, it cannot neglect the technical and technological aspects that would alter its course.

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