Become A Sim Whisperer: A Healthcare Professional's Guide to Scenario Design

By Kathryn Roberts

This is the first book in the Become a Sim Whisperer Series that serves as a practical step-by-step guide that focuses on essential concepts and best practices in simulation creation. This short and easy guide provides instructions, tips, techniques, checklists, templates, and examples to assist readers in not only creating and implementing effective healthcare simulations, but also in becoming a Sim Whisperer.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: May 28, 2024
• ISBN: 9781304334459

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

WHY DO I NEED A PROCESS?

I get it. Who has time to do countless hours of research to come up with a process? You’re in luck because I did. If you are like me and found yourself thrown into the position of simulation program lead, director, etc, I‘m sure you hit the ground running and haven’t stopped since. Well, here is your wake-up call: don’t let failed sims, barely met outcomes, and sleep keep you from becoming a Sim Whisperer.

Plus, I’ve done all of the work for you. I am what you call a type A personality. An old ER nurse turned hospital educator with ADD. So rest assured, I have turned over every leaf, rock, and hard place to create a simulation creation process that includes everything absolutely necessary and a little bit more. Let’s talk about everyone’s favorite phrase, Best-Practice.

Best Practice states that having a structured creation process provides a systematic approach to developing scenarios that are both educational and realistic. This process ensures that each simulation is designed to meet specific learning objectives, adhering to the highest standards of healthcare training. By following a defined process, developers can address diverse educational needs, cater to different learning styles, and incorporate critical feedback from previous simulations. I know I absolutely hate wasting time, so why not take some of the guess work out and pad the odds of successfully meeting your intended objectives in your favor?

Think of it like cooking. Imagine stirring a pot filled with essential clinical ingredients, sprinkling in a dash of urgent patient interactions, and seasoning with a pinch of potential emergencies. Voilà! You’ve created a captivating and comprehensive learning dish. A structured creation process not only keeps the simulations consistent—so you can reliably measure how spicy the learners’ skills are getting—but also makes sure every simulation is a consistent hit, ready to prepare healthcare professionals for the wild world of medical adventures.

Before we jump in head-first, let’s lay down a few ground rules. I have included a Legend to help you with various sections that are built into the workbook.

Legend

TMF=Tickle My Fancy

These are additional adjunct forms, pages, and templates that I have created and found useful in my practice. Feel free to use them and try them out….whatever tickles your fancy.

PTP=Pass The Peas

Pass the peas like we used to say! This section is where I will tell stories of how others have used a concept/template in this guide and tweaked it to fit their situation in hopes that this will give you inspiration. At the least, something to steal.

ABCs= Evidence-Based Practice/Fundamentals

These ABCs are the fundamentals, the bread and butter, the foundation of why we do anything in the healthcare simulation world.

TMF: My Process and Tracking Form

Time to start your Sim Whisperer training. Without further a due, here is my process and tracking form. You may be thinking, good grief, that’s a lot. Again, my process contains all the necessities and some extra frills. I like to use this tracking form to make sure that I have included everything in my scenario.

My process is broken down into three sections: Creation Docs, Adjunct Docs, and Evaluation Docs. Don’t worry; I have this Tracking Form in the templates section, so you don’t have to squint. We are going to go through each item in each section, so let’s get to it.

A document with text on it Description automatically generated

CREATION DOCS

Every act of creation is first an act of destruction – Pablo Picasso.

CHAPTER 2

NEEDS ASSESSMENT, EXPECTED OUTCOMES & OBJECTIVES.

Kicking off the planning of a simulation activity with a needs assessment is like checking the weather before a picnic—it ensures everything is just right for the day! This step acts like a detective, uncovering what participants really need to learn or improve on, which makes the whole exercise not just fun but targeted and effective. Additionally, a needs assessment can reveal the most effective methodologies, technologies, and scenarios to be used, aligning the simulation more closely with the actual conditions and challenges participants face. Ultimately, this targeted approach enhances the overall effectiveness and impact of the simulation, ensuring it delivers measurable improvements in performance or learning outcomes.

SECTION A: When conducting a needs assessment for a simulation activity, asking what is the problem? and why is this a problem? is essential to pinpoint the underlying issues that need addressing. This approach ensures the simulation is laser-focused on specific challenges rather than being a broad, less effective tool. Understanding the problem lets you sculpt a simulation that fills in