INTRODUCTION A Chinese Confucian philosopher once said, "Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn." Certainly, this phrase resonates with experiential learning pedagogy which requires that the learner apply previous knowledge and life experience to formulate new learning in novel situations. In contemporary health sciences education, simulations are being used to recreate realistic clinical environments and engage students for more salient learning. Simulation- based learning experiences are effective yet complex teaching tools that should be implemented following the established standards for best practice. WHAT IS SIMULATION? Simulation as defined by the Society for Simulation in Healthcare (SSH) is “A technique that creates a situation or environment to allow persons to experience a representation of a real health care event for the purpose of practice, learning, evaluation, testing, or to gain understanding of systems or human actions”. This teaching modality, which began in Medical and Nursing education, has been widely adopted by health professions to establish mastery of a wide range of clinical skills and train the characteristics necessary for interprofessional practice. One can think of simulation as “learning by doing” that immerses the learner in a realistic clinic-like environment that contains situational, contextual, and psychomotor elements not available in traditional role-playing or case-studies. Likewise, simulations omit direct teaching customary in traditional lectures or labs reducing passive learning. 1 THE BENEFITS The appeal for using simulation stems from experiential learning that allows students to apply knowledge to clinical scenarios in a low-risk environment for both the learner and the simulated patient. 2 Simulation- based learning experiences/education (SBE) have been found to improve students’ problem- solving, critical thinking, judgment and competence, self-efficacy and perceived readiness for clinical practice. 4 Importantly, students find simulations satisfying! 3,4 Simulations are highly versatile and have been used to orient learners to health care environments or diagnostic-specific groups, train discipline-specific competencies, enhance patient safety and communication, and practice the principles of interprofessional education. They can be designed to consider the needs of the learner along with programmatic or institutional resources and may address curricular content weaknesses or accreditation requirements. The purpose and learning objectives of each SBE should be met through customization of the critical elements including, but not limited to, the type of learning environment (e.g., simulation lab, computer based), the modality and type of simulation tools to be used (e.g., manikin, task trainer, simulated patient), the degree of realism (fidelity), the student’s role (participant or observer), level of preparation and orientation (prebrief), feedback and reflection (debrief) and assessment (summative or formative). The possibilities are endless! Therefore, SBEs should be designed by those with knowledge or training in simulation education and best practice.
2
Powered by FlippingBook