1. Bridges the gap from theory to practice
One of the greatest aspects of simulation is its ability to provide clinicians with a platform for experiential learning. It offers participants the opportunity to experience, practice, and refine real-world events in a controlled environment, serving as a bridge between theoretical knowledge and the practical application of skills in clinical education.”
2. Provides a safe environment to make errors, practice and refine skills
Simulation in healthcare creates a safe learning environment where errors can be made. It enables exploration into the causes and reasons behind these errors, providing an opportunity to discuss strategies to prevent their recurrence in the future. Additionally, it allows for further practice aimed at minimising similar errors when dealing with actual patients.
3. Practice for low frequency/high risk events
Clinicians may have limited exposure to rare events in their practice. Simulation serves as an effective tool for equipping clinical staff with the necessary skills to handle low-frequency, high-risk scenarios. Importantly, it allows for practice without posing any risk to actual patients.
4. Technical skills acquisition and mastery
Simulation education allows for repetitive practice, allowing the participant to gain competency and confidence before performing the skill on a patient. A lot more colleges, universities and departments are embedding simulation into curriculum for competency-based assessment to measure capability before performing the tasks on patients. Slowly moving away from the see one, do one, teach one model.
Simulation is used as a tool to scaffold the learning for skills acquisition. Participants can develop their motor skills on a part task trainer until they have competency and then we can design scenarios so they can integrate both the motor skills and the cognitive skills such as the decision-making processes, communication and prioritisation to perform the skills in a simulated environment.
5. Non-technical skills such as cognitive thinking, team behaviours, working styles and communication
The concept of teamwork-related competencies was a relatively new consideration in the arena of healthcare, identified as a key skill for clinicians to conquer. In this area simulation has the power to shine, turning teams of experts into expert teams. Working through scenarios and debriefing allows for a deeper understanding of the strengths, weaknesses and working styles of colleague’s and one’s self. This inevitably leads to learning a more effective communication style within teams.
Simulation gives us the ability to train, learn and grow together, in our teams, across disciplines and departments, creating a change in both behaviours and culture. It’s a powerful tool to help us explore and understand the cognitive domain of human factors such as:
- our decision-making processes
- critical thinking and biases
- task fixation and situational awareness
- effective communication.
Not only can we use simulation to train communication with our colleagues, but we can also use it to explore our communication skills with patients. This exploration allows clinicians to gain a rapport, take an effective history, break bad news, show empathy and discuss management plans in language patients understand.
Simulation can certainly evoke psychological feelings in participants, such as stress. This applied real-world stress in an immersive scenario can lead to a greater understanding of their cognitive level, their strengths and their weaknesses. Understanding how they perform in stressful situations will allow strategies to be formulated and assist in coping with pressures in the real world, avoiding future errors.
6. Equipment
Part task trainers can replicate just about any part of anatomy allowing participants to develop, practice and refine technical skills. Intravenous/arterial cannulation, indwelling catheter insertion, airway skills, intercostal catheter insertion. The Pocket Centre Network has access to an extensive range of part task trainers from the CSDS SimShop.
With the explosion of technology in simulation, and with blossoming incorporation of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) in to simulation training, the capacity to create more and more immersive scenarios is growing. At CSDS, we are already taking steps in this arena with the development of the intercostal catheter insertion task trainer course that uses AR so the skills can be practiced anywhere, anytime without the need for an expensive bulky part task trainer. We are also successfully testing current facial tracking technology used on social media platforms to provide realistic visual symptoms overlays to manikins and standardised patients.
There are a wide range of full body manikins that can replicate a variety of human clinical symptoms, allowing the operator the ability to modify the complexity of conditions depending on experience levels of participants and scenario details. Trainers like the QCPR used in CPR training, provides real-time feedback adding a whole other dimension to training. Allowing the participant to adjust their performance immediately changing compression depth or pace.
Standardised patients are also frequently used, this is a term given to actors or faculty that play the role of a patient in a scenario. This creates a more immersive scenario for the participants to interact with a human and practice their communication skills. You can use a combination of a standardised patient and a part task trainer, a hybrid of simulation techniques, allowing participants to perform a skill whilst communicating with the patient.
7. Evaluating systems and equipment
Simulations can be used to explore the physical domain, by testing the systems we work in, and the equipment we work with. We have all heard horror stories of purchasing beds that don’t fit into lifts or new equipment that doesn’t work in the space or for the need it was purchased. Running a simulation utilising the desired product or space and debriefing the issues and positives then completing evaluations to assess the validity could solve these issues.
