The role and impact of the simulation technician in health science higher education: A scoping review

Background: Simulation enhances healthcare education by enabling learning in environments closely aligned with practice. Simulation is often supported by simulation technicians with little evidence supporting their role or impact. Aim: This study aimed to define the role and impact of simulation technicians in healthcare higher education. Method: A scoping review was conducted of literature published in English, CINAHL, Medline, ERIC, and Web of Science were searched. Findings: Sixteen included studies were analyzed to identify categories of roles and key themes. Five key simulation technician roles were identified: Setup; Maintenance; Supporting design and facilitation of learning; Operational/support delivery and Being part of the team. Simulation technicians supported educators to focus on teaching, by ensuring simulation equipment was available, runs optimally, and problem solved in-situ technical difficulties during design/preparation and delivery of simulation. Simulation technicians' impact was associated with their expertise, knowledge and availability as a highly valued simulation team member. Discussion: Simulation allows students to acquire necessary skills to provide best practice in a safe and controlled learning environment. Simulation technicians' presence in the simulation environment impacts the effectiveness of simulation and their absence is viewed as a barrier. Their technological knowledge contributes to smooth running at every stage of the simulation process. Conclusion: Simulation is advancing rapidly and requires innovative ideas, knowledge and expertise of simulation technicians. Cite this article: Tellefson, F., Dawson, K., Zhang, N.M., Dickie, R., Coyte, B. & Jacob, A. (2025, Month). The role and impact of the simulation technician in health science higher education: A scoping review. Clinical Simulation in Nursing , 100, 101695. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecns.2025.101695. (c) 2025 International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation and Learning. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)