A systematic mapping literature review of ethics in healthcare simulation and its methodological feasibility

Both the ethics of simulation and how it may be used to explore, train and assess ethical issues in a clinical context have received growing interest in recent years. As ethical considerations permeate almost every element of simulation and clinical practice, the emerging literature in this field remains relatively fragmented, lacking a common vocabulary or standardized practice and methodology. Given this, the primary aim of this paper was to systematically map the literature related to ethics in healthcare simulation, guided by the research question of ‘how is ethics in healthcare simulation recorded in current literature?’. Our secondary aim was to explore the feasibility of conducting a systematic mapping review. One hundred four papers were included and analyzed. Results suggest that this is relatively small, but rapidly growing field. Most research was carried out in the US and with variety of research methods employed. Research involving samples of nurses relied more heavily on qualitative methods and students in their samples than that of medical doctors or other professions. Keyword co-occurrence suggested that studies utilized simulation overwhelmingly in an educational context.