Gersten Jonker

72   Chapter 4 FG was an anesthesiology resident at the time of this study and was unknown to the participants. As a certified simulation facilitator, FG was concerned that the simulation pretest would be too difficult. At the time of the study, GJ was an anesthesiologist and coordinator of the acute care track in the transitional year that participants enrolled in. As such he hadmet with the students before this study began to explain the structure of the track and the pre- and posttests as a part of the track. GJ had no role in the evaluation of students in the tests or during the year. GJ’s acquaintance with the students seemed beneficial, and his role as coordinator did not negatively affect participants’ willingness to express themselves. GJ had limited personal experience as a simulation participant. In the initial stage of analysis, participants established proximity of the individual textural description to their lived experience. In addition to describing the essence of experiencing the phenomenon, by staying close to individual stories, we interpreted the experiences to gain transferable understanding of the phenomenon, “dancing between positions” [31] of pure descriptive and interpretative hermeneutic phenomenology. Interpretation took place in intensive dialogues between FG and GJ, during which they assumed various roles such as educator, caregiver, simulation trainer, and exam candidate to understand meanings from different vantage points. The two researchers used these roles to address pre-understandings and reflect on what the data evoked in them. RESULTS All participants agreed with the individual textural descriptions of their experience. We amalgamated the students’ lived experiences of simulating at the frontier of the ZPD into a quotation-rich composite textural description (Appendix 3). In this section we have provided a composite structural description, which is our interpreted synthesis of the meanings of the students’ experiences of the phenomenon. We have also distilled these experiences into their essence, also included in this section. We found three distinct core themes to be relevant to the research question: realism, emotional response, and motivation to learn. Realism Students generally experienced the simulation area, manikin, and scenarios as realistic. Participants were highly appreciative of the authenticity of the simulation, and some were impressed by it: