Breakout Workshops
Please review the descriptions for each workshop below for your selections (as applicable). Click on each to expand descriptions. Each workshop block runs a full 90mins in length.
Day 1 • Morning Workshops
Maria Bajwa1, Rami Ahmed1, Janice Palaganas1
1 MGH Institute of Health Professions
Introduction: The abrupt disruption of in-person instruction in health care during the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the rapid adoption of distance simulation as an immediate alternative to providing in-person simulation-based education. This massive instructional shift and the lack of educator training in this domain led to challenges for learners and educators. This session aims to disseminate the first set of competencies required and unique to effective distance simulation educators.
Methods: This project was a multiphasic and iterative modified Delphi study validating the content of carefully and rigorously synthesized literature. Experts from around the globe were invited to participate in this study with mandatory attendance at an annual healthcare simulation conference to discuss the guidelines presented as competencies in this document. A free-marginal kappa of 0.60 was determined a priori.
Conclusion: This Delphi method study resulted in 59 competencies, 196 basic, and 182 advanced subcompetencies.
Learning Activities
The participants will learn to:
1. Differentiate between the nuances of in-person and distance simulation
2. Identify competencies relevant to their professional roles
3. Apply the distance simulation guidelines in their setting
4. Identify future research opportunities
Please note that this workshop has replaced "Peer Facilitated Debriefing" due to a late withdrawal.
Efrem Violato1, Carl Corbett1, Thomas Waring1
1 Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, Centre for Advanced Medical Simulation
Background/Rationale
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is expanding the scope, quality, and delivery of healthcare; it also has implications for health professionals’ education. Along with the benefits and possibilities to improve healthcare and education uncertainty also exists about how to adapt to and use AI, particularly commercially available modalities such as the Large Language Model, ChatGPT. Notwithstanding personal biases or reservations about the technologies, these technologies are readily accessible today, and educators must be able to understand and use them. The rise of simulation and the rise of machines are parallel trajectories, it is advantageous for educators and simulationists to run with the machines to improve simulation-based education, which ultimately improves direct patient care.
Learning Objectives:
1) Participants will be able to describe, in general terms, how ChatGPT works.
2) Participants will understand how to use ChatGPT to write a healthcare simulation
3) Participants will be able to use ChatGPT to write a healthcare simulation
Stephanie Sliekers1, Michael Mak1, Fabienne Hargreaves1, Tucker Gordon1, Rachel Antinucci1, Sanjeev Sockalingam1, Chantelle Clarkin1, Allison Crawford1, Ahmed Hassan1, Petal Abdool1
1 Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
Background
While simulation is well-established in other medical specialties like surgery and anesthesiology, its use in mental health has been primarily focused on the use of simulated patients (Thomson et al., 2013). Many disciplines in medicine have begun to utilize innovative simulation technologies such as Virtual Reality to teach trainees, which allows for exposure to rare or high-risk situations in a safe learning environment (Jiang H et al., 2022; Zagury-Orly et al., 2023). The use of Virtual Reality (VR) in mental health education is an under-utilized though effective means of providing a psychologically safe environment for acquiring skills to manage high-risk events (Kyaw et al, 2019; Van Gaalen et al, 2021). This workshop offers participants the opportunity to engage in a novel, innovative approach to teaching management of psychiatric emergencies.
Learning Objectives
Participants to this workshop will:
1. Reflect on the use of virtual reality simulations to support clinical skill development in managing high-risk mental health situations.
2. Describe an approach to designing and delivering virtual reality simulations to develop competence in high-risk mental health scenarios.
3. Review the evidence for the use of virtual reality simulation in medical education.
Electronic Health Record (EHR) Orientation through an Escape Room Simulation
Joyce Law1, Bryan Gilbert2
1 British Columbia Institute of Technology, 2 edehr.org
EHRs are increasingly prevalent in healthcare settings and improve accuracy of patient records, improve clinical decision-making, and provide consistent quality care (Campanella et al., 2016). The importance for educational institutes to meet the learning needs of students in electronic documentation is increasingly evident (Wilbanks et al., 2018). EdEHR is a Canadian, open source, educational electronic health record system. While exploring implementation into curriculum, students’ orientation to EHR was recognized as a challenge to integration.
Orientation to electronic health charting through an escape room simulation is an active learning approach to implementation and promotion of integration of EdEHR systems into the educational curriculum. Through an EdEHR based escape room, nursing students can learn to navigate the EHRs system, input patient data, and retrieve relevant patient data. Escape rooms puzzles and questions encourage active learning and critical thinking. Students are therefore introduced to using EHR as a support tool for clinical decision making.
Upon completion of the orientation, nursing students are able to efficiently navigate the EdEHR system for future educational activities including but not limited to simulations and skills labs. Simulation-based training provides a safe educational environment for learners to practice and develop their EHR skills without risk of patient harm. Through this integration students entering healthcare settings will be better equipped with skills and training to use EHRs effectively.
In this workshop participants will be introduced to EdEHR and experience the EdEHR Escape Room orientation. Participants will learn to navigate the EdEHR system through the escape room experience. Participants will learn to adapt the escape room to their own health science program needs and to utilize EdEHR in their own education programs.
Kiira Poerschke1, Cathy Smith1, Laurie Bernick1, Bev Kramer1, Raquel Meyer1, Meaghan Adams1
1 Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care
Background/rationale
Simulated Participants (SPs) offer healthcare learners opportunities to explore human perspectives. However, many SP roles are created by healthcare professionals who may craft personas with a focus on disease or diagnosis rather than personhood. As a result, personas may lack individuality, and simulation educators risk bias, stereotyping, and the exclusion of unique perspectives. Including people with lived experience in the co-creation of role portrayals can improve inclusivity and authenticity in the development, delivery, and evaluation of simulation scenarios. We worked with an SP in our program to co-create the simulated persona of Ruth, an 85-year old woman living with dementia, as she transitions to a Memory Care Unit that prioritizes relationship centred care and the power of storytelling. Three different types of scenarios (audio, video, case-based) were developed for an online learning program for healthcare providers. We will share the process we used to develop Ruth’s story with this SP, drawing on evidence-informed practices related to simulation scenario design, psychological safety and storytelling principles. Participants will have the opportunity to experience this process and reflect on applications to their practice.
Learning objectives
Participants will learn to:
1) Describe key considerations related to a model for working with SPs to create scenarios
2) Apply evidence-informed standards for using storytelling to create scenarios with SPs
3) Reflect on practical aspects of working with SPs to create scenarios into their simulation environment
Day 1 • Afternoon Workshops
Jabeen Fayyaz1,2, Maria Bajwa2
1 The Hospital For Sick Children, 2 MGH IHP Harvard
Background
Introduction: Distance simulation has been proven to be a cost-effective strategy to enhance learning. It can deliver similar educational content with comparable educational outcomes in low-resource settings without the resources prevalent in the global north.
Methods: We designed and delivered a culturally-sensitive pediatric emergency medicine (PEM) curriculum in Pakistan using distance simulation over a period of two years following Kern’s six-step approach. An OSCE was administered after the didactic portion for knowledge and skills assessment. Non-technical skills of the participants were evaluated using the Team Emergency Assessment Measure (TEAM) score for each group.
Results: The mean score for multiple choice questions from pre-test to post-test was raised in 2021 from 15.87 to 21.80 and in 2022 from 19.33 to 22.3. Overall, Team Emergency Assessment Measure (TEAM) Scores for non-technical skills improved from 4 to 8.
Conclusion: Distance simulation is a cost-effective strategy for implementing a culturally-sensitive PEM curriculum in low-resource settings.
Workshop
Based on our research, this workshop provides an overview of the cultural considerations for distance simulation users. It explains several crucial aspects of designing a transcultural distance simulation curriculum. We will provide venues and opportunities for further research on cultural factors in distance simulation as a modality.
Proposed Participants
Educators using Distance, Virtual, and Telesimulation
Leadership positions- overseeing distance simulation in academic and clinical setting
Simulation industry utilizing any form of distance simulations
Intended Outcomes
By participating and completing the workshop, the learners would be able to:
Differentiate between various terms used in the context of culture
Apply Kerns’ six steps to implement and evaluate the curriculum
Explore the challenges and barriers to implementing a transcultural distance simulation curriculum
Identify future research opportunities
Efrem Violato1, Carl Corbett1, Thomas Waring1
1 Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, Centre for Advanced Medical Simulation
Background/Rationale
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is expanding the scope, quality, and delivery of healthcare; it also has implications for health professionals’ education. Along with the benefits and possibilities to improve healthcare and education uncertainty also exists about how to adapt to and use AI, particularly commercially available modalities such as the Large Language Model, ChatGPT. Notwithstanding personal biases or reservations about the technologies, these technologies are readily accessible today, and educators must be able to understand and use them. The rise of simulation and the rise of machines are parallel trajectories, it is advantageous for educators and simulationists to run with the machines to improve simulation-based education, which ultimately improves direct patient care.
Learning Objectives:
1) Participants will be able to describe, in general terms, how ChatGPT works.
2) Participants will understand how to use ChatGPT to write a healthcare simulation
3) Participants will be able to use ChatGPT to write a healthcare simulation
Mateo Orrantia1, Ryan Patchett-Marble1,2, Eliseo Orrantia1,2
1 NOSM University, 2 Marathon Family Health Team
Background/Rationale:
Simulation-based learning activities are among the most effective teaching tools in medicine. However, rural and remote environments present challenges that impede their implementation, such as a lack of resources - both human and otherwise - isolation from sim centers, and a lack of simulations aimed at rural environments. To help overcome those barriers, a group of northern Ontario physicians developed PRACTISS (Peer-Run Applied Cases for Teaching Interdisciplinary Simulations and Scenarios), a browser-based FOAMED tool that helps make medical simulation-based learning activities more rurally accessible through a low-resource approach and the implementation of diverse facilitator supports.
This workshop is meant to familiarize participants with the PRACTISS platform and help participants - particularly novice or inexperienced facilitators - become comfortable facilitating effective medical simulations using the tool.
Participants will learn to:
Recognize the importance of effective medical simulation activities in rural environments and how PRACTISS helps overcome barriers to their implementation
Identify and perform the key components of effective medical simulation activities using PRACTISS-including the prebrief, the simulation itself, the debrief, and the collection of feedback
Become comfortable facilitating a medical simulation with minimal experience and resources using PRACTISS
Elizabeth Horsley1
1 Independent
Background/Rationale:
Simulation, in its many forms is a now a common educational strategy across health professions. Over the past two decades, simulation has evolved from mannequins and task trainers to all-encompassing virtual experiences. While technology and levels of fidelity and realism have reached incredible heights, this is not enough for a meaningful and effective simulation-based educational experiences. Regardless of modality or platform high quality simulation first and foremost requires a skilled and thoughtful facilitator who is knowledgeable of evidence-based best practices and the theoretical underpinnings of the simulation and debriefing processes. As the use of simulation has increased, so too has the need for foundational knowledge in design, implementation and facilitation of simulation-based educational experiences.
Learning Objectives
At the end of this session, participants will:
1. Identify the key components of an effective healthcare simulation-based educational experience.
2. Discuss theoretical frameworks that underpin high quality simulation.
3. Prepare to conduct a needs assessment of the simulation program in home institution.
Jennifer Dale-Tam1, Glenn Posner1,2,3, Prudy Menard1, Leah Dale1, Nicole Spence1
1 The Ottawa Hospital, 2 The University of Ottawa Skills and Simulation Center, 3 The University of Ottawa
Background
Healthcare practice in acute care environments is multidimensional involving numerous practitioners in the care of patients. The need for interprofessional, integrated care in acute care environments has never been greater, as post-pandemic patients have become more health literate. Health profession’s education is siloed in many organizations, resulting in ineffective care delivery that fails to meet the complex needs of patients (Ojelabi et al., 2022). Simulation based education (SBE) is an avenue to bring all types of health professionals together to learn with, about and from each other with the care of the patient at the center (CAIPE, 2023). To be effective, SBE needs to be grounded in best practices, especially when considering interprofessional education (IPE). The Simulation-Enhanced Interprofessional Education HSSOBPTM (Rossler et al., 2021) provides a guide on how to develop IPE in a simulation-based context. At the Ottawa Hospital (TOH) we have successfully implemented SBE IPE into many of our education programs.
Learning Objectives
Having participated in this workshop, participants will be able to:
1. Discuss the importance of developing interprofessional simulations based on best practices and applicable frameworks.
2. Develop a simulation scenario to be used for interprofessional education.
3. Apply the Healthcare Simulation Standard of Best Practice: Simulation Enhanced Interprofessional Education
Day 2 • Afternoon Workshops
Howard Fruitman1, Branka Agic1, Asha Maharaj1, Stephanie Sliekers1, Wendy Chong2, Jerry Maniate3
1 Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 2 Equity in Health Systems Lab, 3 The Ottawa Hospital
Background
There has been increased recognition of the importance of integrating equity, diversity and inclusivity (EDI) principles into simulation-based continuing professional development (CPD). The Health Equity and Inclusion (HEI) Framework for Education and Training is an evidence-based practical tool that can be used to assist users to embed EDI in the design, development, and delivery of simulation-based education.
The framework provides a checklist of questions and practical examples on how to integrate EDI principles into simulation-based education at each stage of the ADDIE (Analyze, Design, Development, Implement and Evaluate) process. The framework is applicable to virtual, in-person, and blended simulation. It is intended for those who design, develop, and/or delivery of training and educational curricula.
Learning Objectives
Participants to this workshop will:
1. Define equity, diversity and inclusivity (EDI) in the context of simulation-based education.
2. Describe factors that contribute to the creation of an equitable, accessible and inclusive simulated learning environment.
3. Discuss how to apply the HEI framework in simulation design, development and delivery.
Fidelity of Simulation Scenarios and learning from them: not always a linear relationship
Anne Kawamura1, Dominique Piquette1
1 University of Toronto
Introduction
Training and assessment of Health Care Professionals (HCP) is a major priority for our health
care system. Simulation has a multitude of applications in training of individuals as well as teams and organizations. Simulation developers and instructors often have questions about the level of fidelity or realism needed. Evidence to date shows that high-fidelity simulators do not always lead to better performance, and in some instances, can interfere with effectiveness of learning, some of the reasons being how humans process sensory information and the level of learner just to name a few. Consequently, simulation training curricula should be developed to maximize their effectiveness, not their fidelity.
While the reality is multidimensional, we will describe a framework that looks at it from three perspectives: 1) the physical, 2) conceptual, and 3) emotional and experiential modes. Skillful blending of the three modes of thinking about realism appropriate to participants’ level will allow them to “suspend disbelief,” and engage for maximal learning benefits.
After describing elements of realism, we suggest the following model of engaging the three modes of realism or fidelity to designing scenarios that meaningfully engage trainees: high physical or structural fidelity is likely important for developing kinesthetic skills that involve muscle memory; high conceptual or functional fidelity is likely important for developing clinical reasoning and diagnostic problem solving skills; high emotional and experiential fidelity is important for helping people manage complex processes that involve emotion and cognition.
Objectives
Describe a framework to look at reality or fidelity in simulation.
Discuss blending the different dimensions of reality to designing simulation scenarios.
Apply the framework in designing a simulation scenarios.
Krystina Clarke1, Julia Micallef1, Leizl Joy Nayahangan2, Lars Konge2, Amandus Gustafsson2, Adam Dubrowski1
1 Ontario Tech University, 2 Copenhagen Academy for Medical Education and Simulation
Background:
Simulation is a key contributor to quality health professions education (HPE). However, results achieved when simulation programs are developed and tested in controlled experimental settings do not automatically translate into improved learner outcomes when these programs are implemented in real-world settings. Although implementation science (IS) has emerged as a field intended to guide the implementation of evidence-based programs in various contexts, recent reviews suggest that it has not been integrated into simulation-based education. The ultimate goal of IS is to provide an evidence-based approach to program delivery in practice to achieve the targeted outcomes and maximize the return on research investments. The main reason is that in order to achieve the intended outcomes, it is crucial to pay attention to both simulation program quality and implementation quality.
In this workshop, we highlight the research to practice gap in simulation-based HPE, introduce the concept of IS and how it can serve to close the gap and provide an example of a model derived entirely based on other models and frameworks existing in the field of IS to help simulation program directors and other administrators to implement simulation programs into educational practice.
Learning Objectives:
Participants will learn to;
1) define IS;
2) recall key implementation frameworks, strategies, and outcomes; and
3) demonstrate the application of existing implementation evidence to the implementation of simulation programs to maximize implementation success.
Raquel Meyer1, Cathy Smith2, David Chandross2,3, Paula Mastrilli2, Shoshana Helfenbaum1, Emi Giddens1, Kiira Poerschke1, Christina Gallucci1, Carey Burleigh1
1 Baycrest, Ontario Centres for Learning, Research & Innovation in Long-Term Care, 2 Educational Consultant, 3 Toronto Metropolitan University
Background
Healthcare education has yet to fully realize the learning potential of video games among youth who, as digital natives and gamers, are the next generation of care providers. To date, gamified simulation activities often apply surface game features to a short set of objectives (e.g., branching video sims).
A meta-simulation integrates a curated series of progressively complex simulations to deepen competencies in a given area of study. A game world is an open, simulated environment with its own rule sets and boundaries to achieve educational outcomes. Meta-simulation game worlds harness deep game features by combining simulation-, game-, case-, team- and story-based learning. We created ‘Ancient Carthage’, a meta-simulation game world that fosters clinical specialization, professional socialization, interprofessionalism and readiness for values-based practice. We will share the development of this meta-simulation game world drawing on evidence-informed practices related to simulation and serious game design. Participants will workshop key steps in this process and reflect on applications to practice.
Learning objectives
Participants will learn to:
1) Describe key considerations for building meta-simulation game worlds
2) Apply evidence-informed standards for designing meta-simulation game worlds
3) Reflect on practical aspects of building meta-simulation game worlds
Catherine Rich1, Raphael Morin-Gagnon1
1 Montreal Children's Hospital, McGill University
Background/rationale
On our pediatric inpatient unit, we redesigned our weekly interprofessional in situ simulation program to focus explicitly on patient safety. The curriculum was developed based on real-life cases, in collaboration with our healthcare teams and includes diverse scenarios to reflect current quality or safety issues on the unit. For instance, we reproduce high acuity low occurrence (HALO) events in simulation to improve team performance; we create scenarios using data from real incident-accident reports to provide shared learning from mistakes; we test new clinical care protocols in simulation before implementing them on our unit in order to improve clinical systems; we practice assertive communication strategies in simulation to empower all healthcare team members to speak up for patient safety. In this workshop, we hope to share with participants tools and strategies to develop and lead interprofessional simulation sessions with a focus on patient safety.
Learning objectives
By the end of this session, you will be able to:
1. Use simulation as an effective tool to improve the quality and safety of care provided in your clinical environment.
2. Create a safety scenario and apply it to your hospital or private practice.
3. Facilitate a structured post-simulation debriefing session aiming to promote a safety culture within your team.
