Educational Outcomes of Sensor-Equipped Medical Chairs in UAE Grade 12 Health Curriculum: A Mixed-Methods Study on Authentic Clinical Simulation
Educational Outcomes of Sensor-Equipped Medical Chairs in UAE Grade 12 Health Curriculum: A Mixed-Methods Study on Authentic Clinical Simulation

Summary/Abstract: Background/purpose. This study addresses the growing need for technologically enhanced clinical simulation tools within the UAE Ministry of Education’s Grade 12 Health & Artificial Intelligence curriculum. Traditional manikin-based simulations provide limited opportunities for authentic data-driven learning. To address this gap, the study evaluates sensor-equipped medical chairs as a transformative pedagogical tool. Guided by TPACK, SAMR, conceptual change theory, and Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), the purpose of the study was to examine how real-time clinical data can enhance students’ clinical decision-making, technological literacy, health knowledge, and intrinsic motivation, while also validating the clinical accuracy of the sensor systems. Materials/Methods. A mixed-methods design was employed across two phases. In the educational phase (N = 60 Grade 12 students), a pre-post quasi-experimental design compared students using live sensor data in simulated clinics (n = 30) with peers using traditional manikins (n = 30). In the clinical validation phase (N = 230), pre- and post-assessments were conducted across three UAE hospitals to evaluate clinical accuracy. Quantitative measures included clinical reasoning scores, technological literacy, health knowledge, and motivation; qualitative artefacts included student-created diagnostic outputs aligned with SAMR levels. Results. Students using sensor-equipped chairs demonstrated significant gains: +8.7 points in clinical reasoning (d = 0.72, p < .001), +22.2% in technological literacy (d = 0.81), +4.6 points in health knowledge (d = 0.94), and +1.8 in intrinsic motivation (d = 0.65). Additionally, 88% of students produced artefacts that met the SAMR “Redefinition” criteria. Clinical accuracy increased by 4.42 points in the hospital validation sample (d = 0.41).

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