WISER Highlights

Summer 2019

Director’s Corner

Greetings, Friends of WISER and welcome to WISER Highlights!

Our team recently collaborated with the Department of Orthopedic Surgery to support an International ACL Repair Symposium. The simulation portion of the program took place at WISER and included multiple surgical workstations with surgeons performing surgical repairs of cadaveric knees. Our IT team created a live feed to the Pittsburgh University Club so that the participants of the main portion of the symposium could view the surgery in real-time as well as interact via two-way video conferencing with our world-famous knee surgeon, Dr. Freddy Fu, the Chairman of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh and the UPMC Health System.
Next up in exciting news is the long-awaited release of our newest research paper that evaluated the effectiveness of non-physician skills coaches teaching central line insertion basics to medical students using an Expert Curriculum – Competent Facilitator Model. The paper provides a non-inferiority evaluation comparing our control group of well trained, non-physician faculty to the simulated teaching performed by our seasoned physician faculty using a blended learning curriculum that includes web-based learning coupled with simulation-based learning activities. The final paper was published in Simulation in Healthcare and is currently available in publish-ahead of print here.

Our International Visiting Scholar Program is continuing to thrive and provide deep immersive experiences in simulation instructor development for people from around the world. We recently welcomed a contingent of visiting scholars from Duy Tan University in Vietnam to WISER for a six-week program. Four of the twelve faculty returned for advanced training, and the additional scholars are gaining a foundational introduction to teaching skills associated with becoming proficient in simulation. We have recently completed programs for several visitors from various hospitals in China. On a bit of a sad note, we bid farewell to our visiting fellow Dr. Tae Gun Shin from Samsung Hospital in Korea who recently completed a one-year fellowship with us.

I think the opportunities for simulation as an innovative learning and assessment modality, as well as a critical patient safety tool, continue to create a bright outlook into the future. At WISER, we are as excited as ever! I hope that your program is thriving as well.

Additionally, I am excited to relay that two of our key staff members, Tom Dongilli (WISER’s Director of Operations) and John O’Donnell (WISER’s Associate Director for Nursing Programs), were inducted as fellows into the Society of Simulation in Healthcare. This incredible honor reflects the considerable contributions to the community of simulation that have been made by these two gentlemen.

Recently, I had the honor of serving as one of the plenary speakers at our own UPMC Magee-Womens Annual Safety Symposium, which was focused this year on the need for more simulation in women’s hospitals. We have recently collaborated with Magee to create a WISER satellite center which has already been incredibly active in creating new programs to improve the quality and safety of patients in their care. We look forward to continuing a long-term relationship with Magee!

While we are looking forward to the change of weather, we’re even more excited about what’s shaping up to be a busy Spring and Summer. We’ll be offering several professional development programs – from helping people hone their skills in simulation, to our more traditional clinical training sessions. For more information on any of our programs, check out our website.

I hope that this year in simulation is treating you as well as it is treating us here at WISER. Please let us know of your thoughts and ideas on how simulation can continue to help improve the quality and safety of patients around the world!

Until Next Time, Happy Simulating!
-Paul

P.S.
For more information and thoughts on simulation, I invite you to visit my blog at www.simulatinghealthcare.net and connect with me on Facebook

Panther Symposium – World-Class Support

The 2019 Panther Symposium was a three-day meeting that signified the collaboration among global leaders in anatomic ACL reconstruction surgery to develop consensus on key focus areas within the field. Orthopaedic surgeons, physical therapists, athletic trainers, radiologists, and basic scientists discussed evidence-based recommendations, recent advances, and the future of anatomic ACL reconstruction.

This year, WISER was honored to support the first day of the Symposium including the kick-off demonstration with Dr. Freddie Fu and the hands-on workshops later in the day.

This was a monumental task, as the entire 16,000 square feet of WISER was utilized. Every simulation room was converted from simulation-capable to tissue-capable training for the event. WISER staff actively supported the setup, day of the event, and post-event.

A course like this required the entire center to be closed 1 day prior, the entire day of the event, and 1-day post-event. Staffing for the event consisted of approximately 180 total hours which included set up, day of the event support, and then post-event reset.

To prepare for the event, simulators, beds, medical equipment, and supplies all needed to be removed from their respective rooms and stored. After the rooms were cleared, the floors and even the hallways were covered in plastic tarps.

In addition to supporting the facilitators, we offered vendors our support by receiving their equipment in advance of the Symposium, with set-up, breakdown, and then returned the equipment.

Supplies included: PPE for 70 people removing them a minimum of 3 times, 45 boxes of biohazardous waste, 30 buckets, red and green tape (for creating clean and dirty zones), 14 stainless steel tables, extension cords and power strips, and web cameras used with GoTo Meeting for the broadcasting of procedures.

WISER’s IT staff worked with University of Pittsburgh IT staff to ensure the successful and secure broadcast of the procedures from our facility back to the main event location at the University Club that had an audience of over 200 people.

iSIM – Improving Simulation Instructional Methods
is the faculty development program for you!
Next class dates: October 9 - 11, 2019
More Information at https://www.isimcourse.com/

Creating Educational Outreach Opportunities for Your Simulation Center

Simulation centers can provide wonderful educational opportunities for their communities. While traditional simulation outreach programs can consist of BLS/ACLS certification and school tours, there are still many avenues to explore. If your simulation center is affiliated with an undergraduate academic institution, many University departments have individual outreach programs or coordinators. Consider connecting with these resources to develop programing. Oftentimes, these outreach coordinators will have active relationships with local school districts that are excited to take advantage of opportunities like these. WISER has had great success partnering with the University of Pittsburgh Biological Sciences Outreach program to develop an “Introduction to STEM Careers” program designed to provide high school students hands-on experiences in the field of health care, engineering, and research. Partnerships between an advocate from your simulation center with already established local outreach programs can generate rich educational opportunities that benefit both the community and your center.

WISER’s Visiting Scholars Program offers customized curriculum to meet your simulation needs including Operations, Curriculum Development, Information Technology, and Center Management.
https://www.wiser.pitt.edu/sites/wiser/training/simTraining.asp

WISER Visiting Scholars – Where Are They Now?

As we celebrate our 25^th anniversary, we’ve been checking in with former Visiting Scholars to see how they are doing, and how their time at WISER has informed their work in simulation.

Not just a Past Fellow but a Friend

Dr. Usapan “Becky” Surabenjawong from Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University in Thailand was a Fellow with WISER from July 2016 to July 2017.

We recently reached out to Dr. Surabenjawong to find out how her opportunities at WISER helped her professionally following her return home to Thailand.

How did you learn about WISER’s Visiting Scholars Program?
My friend, who is an anesthesiologist, was a Fellow in WISER and she suggested that I should apply for a simulation Fellowship here.

During your Fellowship at WISER, what were your goals?
Learning about how to be effective in simulation education and simulation-based research.

How did WISER help you achieve your goals while you were here?
WISER provided me the chance to attend simulation workshops and observe simulation classes. The staff were resourceful and always willing to answer the questions I had during my Fellowship. I also got the opportunity to run a research project with the support of WISER.

What did you find most beneficial while at WISER (i.e. presentations, workshops, hands-on, course observations, etc.)?
Lectures, workshops, participating in an International Journal Club, and class observations.

Upon returning home, were you able to implement what you learned at WISER at your institution?
If so, how did you implement it?
Yes - I developed the simulation curriculum for the emergency department’s residency program by using the curriculum development that I learned from working with Deborah Farkas (WISER’s Director of Education Development). With the knowledge I got from workshops and observations at WISER, I applied it to help the Thai Simulation Society for faculty development in Thailand.

Has there been any obstacles you needed to overcome? If so, what?
Simulation is quite new in Thailand. Some instructors feel that teaching with simulation takes too much time. I’m sharing the benefits that the simulation can provide for the students, as well as best practices. For instance, some of the instructors were unaware of effective debriefing methods and taught simulation by lecturing during the debriefing period. I’m sharing more effective debriefing methods that I learned at WISER during my fellowship.

Are you still using what you learned today?
Definitely, yes!

WISER wishes Dr. Surabenjawong continued success in her simulation endeavors!

Microsoft Teams and Slack for Managing Simulation Operations and IT

Microsoft Teams is a software platform that allows your simulation team to easily communicate and share files across multiple platforms. There are phone, tablet, desktop, and web applications allowing you to use Teams from anywhere you have an Internet connection. A central file repository allows you to share and maintain setup documents, scenarios, schedules, and other important files. Online meetings can be run with audio, video, and screen sharing. One simulation specific use of the online meetings is to use phones and earbuds to remotely communicate with confederates during a scenario, similar to a walkie talkie. Another use is to use the video conference or screen sharing capabilities to remotely diagnose technical problems. If your institution uses Office 365, OneDrive, or SharePoint, Teams tightly integrates with these systems to allow a “one-stop shop” for many of your IT needs.

Slack is very similar to Teams (in fact it predates Teams by a number of years). It is an independent company, so it does not integrate as tightly with Microsoft products, but on the other hand, it works better with platforms like Google Drive and Dropbox.

Our recommendation would be, if your institution’s IT group supports Microsoft Teams, go with that. It will make your implementation and integrations a little easier. If you are a bit more adventurous or your IT group doesn’t support Teams, give Slack a try.