{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,4]],"date-time":"2026-09-04T05:15:24Z","timestamp":1788498924134,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":39,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,4]],"date-time":"2026-09-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1788480000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Med."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Effective acute pain management requires integrating multimodal analgesia, clinical decision-making, and patient safety considerations. Although simulation-based education is increasingly used in medical training, its value for teaching complex acute pain management in undergraduate curricula has not been well established. This study evaluated whether high-fidelity simulation-based learning improved educational outcomes compared with traditional lecture-based teaching among final-year medical students.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>A quasi-experimental pre\u2013post controlled study was conducted at the University of Tabuk Simulation Center in Saudi Arabia between September 2025 and February 2026. Final-year medical students were assigned, according to the academic teaching schedule, to either simulation-based learning or traditional lecture-based instruction. The simulation intervention included three clinically relevant acute pain scenarios. Outcomes included knowledge acquisition, assessed using a 15-item multiple-choice questionnaire; learner confidence, assessed using an 8-item Likert-scale questionnaire; and post-intervention clinical performance, assessed using a standardized competency-based checklist with scores ranging from 0 to 50. Between-group differences and pre\u2013post changes were analyzed.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      A total of 147 students were included in the final analysis: 73 in the simulation group and 74 in the traditional teaching group. Baseline demographic characteristics, knowledge scores, and confidence scores were comparable between groups (all\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009&amp;gt;\u20090.05). After the intervention, both groups improved; however, the simulation group showed greater gains in knowledge (12.8\u2009\u00b1\u20091.5 vs. 10.2\u2009\u00b1\u20091.8,\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009&amp;lt;\u20090.001), higher clinical performance scores (41.3\u2009\u00b1\u20093.8 vs. 34.0\u2009\u00b1\u20094.6,\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009&amp;lt;\u20090.001), and larger improvements in confidence (+9.8 vs.\u2009+\u20095.5 points,\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009&amp;lt;\u20090.001). Students reported high satisfaction with the simulation experience, with an overall satisfaction score of 4.7\u2009\u00b1\u20090.4. Effect size analysis showed a large effect for knowledge improvement (Cohen's\n                      <jats:italic>d<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009=\u20091.12) and a very large effect for clinical performance (Cohen's\n                      <jats:italic>d<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009=\u20091.58).\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Simulation-based training was associated with higher knowledge, confidence, and post-intervention performance scores. These findings should be interpreted in light of the quasi-experimental design, nonrandom allocation, and nonblinded assessment. The results support the use of simulation-based approaches in undergraduate pain education.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fmed.2026.1907025","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,4]],"date-time":"2026-09-04T04:24:36Z","timestamp":1788495876000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["High-fidelity simulation improves acute pain management competency in final-year medical students"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Hassan","family":"Moria","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Surgery, University of Tabuk","place":["Tabuk, Saudi Arabia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,4]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"473","DOI":"10.2147\/JPR.S144066","article-title":"Poorly controlled postoperative pain: prevalence, 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