simulation Archives - Your Health Matters

Free! Free! Free entry for health students to Simulation Expo in Toronto Dec. 6 and 7

Alexis Dobranowski — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 02:27:00 +0000

Sunnybrook’s Simulation Centre welcomes
more than 1,300 people each year.

Looking to expand your mind and network, and hear about the latest advances in health-care simulation?

SIM-one is offering health students FREE entry to its two-day expo Dec. 6 and 7 in Toronto.

The 2012 Ontario Simulation Exposition “Simulation and the Quality of Healthcare” promises engaging keynote speakers (including the Globe and Mail’s public health reporter André Picard, and Southlake Regional Health Centre President and CEO Dr. Dave Williams), workshops focused on topics like: EMS and Simulation, Mental Health and First Responders, and networking.

Sunnybrook’s own Simulation Centre education coordinator Agnes Ryzynski will be running two workshops at the expo.

SIM-one is an interprofessional health-care simulation network that links facilities and resources across Ontario.

Cost: Free for university and college students in health profession disciplines. Admission for non-students is $350.

Where: Metro Toronto Convention Centre South Building.

For more details and to register visit.

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Simulation in Medical Education: More than an Educational Tool

Education Team — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 18:38:00 +0000

Simulation as a Research Tool

Over the last 20 years, simulation has become a tremendously popular educational tool. The increased use of simulation by medical teachers and educators has raised questions regarding its effectiveness in achieving important learning objectives and in assessing trainees’ knowledge and skills. Not surprisingly, most educational researchers have thus considered simulation as a object of research. More recently, simulation has also been used as a research tool to study other topics relevant in medical education.

What Can Simulation Do for You!

Thus far, three types of objectives have been pursued by researchers who have used simulation as a research tool: identifying trainees’ deficiencies regarding specific clinical knowledge or skills (e.g. communication of bad news); determining the impact of a variable (e.g. sleep deprivation) on trainees’ clinical performance; and assessing the impact of a non simulation based educational intervention (e.g. change in clinical curriculum) on trainees’ performance. Simulation has thereby contributed to a greater understanding of the learning processes involved in clinical training and has created opportunities to design better educational interventions based on research findings.

Why Use Simulation as a Research Tool?

Conducting educational research in real clinical settings would be optimal, but often practically impossible. Exposing real patients to the risks posed by suboptimal clinical performance or gaps in trainees’ knowledge and skills for research purposes are not ethically acceptable. Simulation provides an environment where these studies can be safely conducted. Furthermore, the ability to control variables that may influence research outcomes and to record trainees’ behaviours and performance offers significant advantages for the researcher. However, simulation also presents some limitations as a research tool that must be considered early in the design of a study.

A Few Caveats…

Three types of challenges must be expected when designing a simulation-based study. First, organizing simulation sessions involves significant financial and human resources. Many educational projects are completed with minimal funding, and careful planning is needed to limit unnecessary expenses. Second, the choice of outcomes and variables used to measure these outcomes is important for producing informative results (e.g. Which scale should be used to measure communication skills?). Finally, researchers have to keep in mind that simulation is not exactly like the real clinical environment. Research findings resulting from simulation-based studies may need to be confirmed (when possible) in real clinical settings. However, simulation has a lot to offer as a research tool. With a bit of work, lots of help, and sparks of creativity, simulation-based research can be a rewarding and exciting adventure!

Dr. Dominique Piquette

Staff Physician & Clinical Associate

Critical Care Medicine

Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

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Patient Safety Simulation Team Training, Sunnybrook Canadian Simulation Centre

Education Team — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 15:30:00 +0000

There’s no doubt that modern medicine is a team activity.

And much like in sports, when the team doesn’t function together, the outcomes are less assured. We have all experienced this, and possibly been frustrated by it. But is it really surprising? How many of us trained in teams during our school years? How often have we trained in teams since graduating? Back to the sports analogy, how can we expect to win, win, win, without ever going to a practice?

Well, there is a better way. As kids, we all remember having fire drills at school. Why not practice emergency events at work? At Sunnybrook we can do this. We have a Simulation Centre here, and in fact, we had the first centre in Canada, which opened in 1994. We have human patient mannequins that have heart sounds, breath sounds, pulses and display vital signs on a monitor. We can practice almost any scenario, limited only by people’s creativity: from a drunk trauma patient, to a difficult delivery where the father faints in the middle!

Teams can come to the Simulation Centre, or we can come to your unit.

So is it fun? Depends on whom you ask. Initially most people are a bit scared. Am I going to perform OK? Will I embarrass myself? Am I going to look like an idiot in front of my peers?

We have a strict policy of confidentiality at the Sim Centre. Everything that happens there stays there! After the initial nervousness is past, almost everyone finds it a fascinating and extremely valuable experience. We can practice things in absolute safety without worrying about a patient being harmed. We can have a “redo” and try the same scenario over again. Most people say they want more, even those who were the most hesitant at the start!

While people can practice individually or in small groups, team training with real interprofessional colleagues is the most realistic and beneficial to all. The biggest challenge is getting everyone’s schedule in sync.

If this type of training interests you, speak to your educators, team leaders, managers or us! Because education matters, especially when patient safety is involved.

Dr. Jordan Tarshis, Director,

Susan DeSousa, Agnes Ryzynski, Co-ordinators,

Sunnybrook Canadian Simulation Centre

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