Resources
Classify by what it teaches, not by what it costs
A functional framework proposed in a narrative review of the clinical simulation literature. It is the basis for the whole navigation of this catalogue.
Fidelity describes the equipment.It does not describe what the learner learns with it.
The problem with classifying by fidelity
The usual classification —high, medium and low fidelity— describes the technology of the equipment, not what the learner learns with it. It is also a scale that is not objective: two people classify the same simulator differently, and neither of them is wrong, because there is no criterion that separates them.
Worse: it leads to buying by specification. A centre ends up with an underused high-fidelity simulator and without the task trainers it needed for the practice hours. The equipment is right; the question that led to it is not.
What the framework proposes
Reverse the order. First define which competency is to be trained; from there the modality follows, and from the modality the equipment. Fidelity stops being an axis of classification and becomes a consequence: an ultra-realism scenario is faithful because what it trains demands it, not because fidelity is a value in itself.
That gives five modalities defined by their learning objective, plus a sixth category for the anatomical understanding models, which do not train a procedure but build the mental map the other five rest on. Keeping it separate is what stops a take-apart heart and a birthing simulator being measured with the same yardstick.
Four axes, not a tree
An item does not live in a folder: it has a value on each axis, and you reach it through any of the four.
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4
Segment
Who is being trained. The learner’s professional field, at undergraduate or postgraduate level.
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6
Modality
How the training is done. Defined by the learning objective, not by the technology of the equipment.
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52
Specialty
Which clinical area, plus the veterinary field.
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175
Procedure
Which specific technique. This is the way in for those who already know what they are looking for.
One item, one value on each axis
You reach it through any of the four. Those who know which technique they want to train come in by procedure; those setting up a classroom come in by modality; those coming from a university come in by segment or by specialty. All four paths lead to the same place, and none of them is the main one.
How it is used in practice
The modality is the first question, not the last. Before looking at any catalogue, define which competency is to be trained; the modality follows from the objective, and the equipment from the modality. If the answer to “what do we want the learner to be able to do when they leave?” is not clear, no catalogue is going to clear it up.
The six training modalities
Five defined by the learning objective, plus the anatomical models, which do not train a procedure.
Task trainer
Specific procedural skill.
2,019 items → A single technical movement, repeated until it no longer needs thinking about.Anatomical model
Understanding structure and function.
876 items → It does not train a movement: it builds the map the others rest on.Patient and equipment simulators
Technical and non-technical skills, and equipment handling.
388 items → A patient who responds, a team that decides and the machines that keep them going.Ultra realism
High-impact critical scenarios.
435 items → Training the response when conditions are against you.Standardised patient
Communication and the therapeutic relationship.
251 items → Communication is the procedure.Digital tools
Clinical reasoning and decision-making.
26 items → Scale and repetition where physical equipment cannot reach.Reference framework
Taxonomy of clinical simulationThe narrative review and the practical framework this classification rests on. Maradiaga C. L. and Mendes V. H., 2026.
Documentation
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