Train the Trainers in Clinical Simulation-Based-Learning

A FREE two-day faculty development course commissioned by Health Education England

Course Dates: 

TBC

 

These free courses are available to those working at:

Click here to apply

 

Introduction:

Our simulation programme is designed for  health care professionals who are interested in developing their  teaching skills. In the widest sense, simulation in healthcare refers to “any educational method or experience that evokes or replicates aspects of the real world in an interactive manner” (Gaba 2004). This broad definition touches on many areas of teaching practice which health professionals will find familiar.

 The course will be particularly relevant to those who are currently using or planning to be engaged in simulation-based education. It will also appeal to teachers who simply want to extend their repertoire of potential teaching resources, or simply hone their small group teaching skills.  The course includes a variety of content, both theoretical and practical, which will help advance the skills of both novice, intermediate and more advanced simulation educators.

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Our approach:

Our course uses combinations of role-play, low and high-fidelity simulators, simulated patients (actors), part task trainers and a variety of settings from tabletop sessions to realistic clinical environments. Our goal is to give you confidence to design and employ creatively a wide range of simulation resources in your clinical teaching practice. The underlying belief here as teachers is that the more tools and strategies we have to choose from the more adaptive we are to our learners’ needs, the more tools we have for assessment of impacts, and the more strategies we have to probe clinical systems.

 

The 2-day Train-the-Trainer program

The course is delivered over two full days at St George’s Hospital, London. It comprises a series of short, small group ‘hands-on’ simulations, larger-scale fixed and mobile team exercises and full-scale high-fidelity simulations.

We limit the number of participants to 12, maintaining a ratio of trainers to trainees of 1:3. Simulation scenarios are interspersed with facilitated workshops. These small group interactive sessions focus on the evidence base underlying key themes in education, human factors and clinical simulation.

A major focus of the training is to develop clinical teaching skills. Simulation scenarios provide the ‘backdrop’ for developing these skills in analysing practice. The context of practice will be both individual and team performances. The course is highly interactive and experienced educators give participants one-to-one feedback. We will also support and strengthen teaching skills with the aid of video and other tools.

Participants will receive a teacher resource pack before attending. This presents a selected number of key educational topics which we hope will support your thinking and learning. Each topic presents a key thinker or theme with a synthesis of their contributions to current educational thinking and knowledge. A suggested reading list accompanies each topic for those who want to pursue further understanding. You can dip into topics as you please, as there is no particular sequence.

 

Educational Goals

At the end of the two-day intensive course attendees should be able to:

• Set up, program and operate a mobile patient simulator
• Apply concepts of instructional design to align objectives in teaching, learning and assessment activities
• Use a variety of small group teaching strategies and techniques with simulation to enhance the learning environment for their trainees
• Draw on an enhanced repertoire of formative assessment tools to set an explicit standard of performance in clinical simulations
• Apply educational principles of effective ‘feed up’ ‘feedback’ and ‘feed-forward’ in simulation training and relate these to the design and development of simulation scenarios
• Develop facilitation skills to help their trainees to evaluate technical and non-technical factors which hinder or promote good clinical outcomes
• Be advocates for multi-professional team training using simulation and be able to refer to its evidence base for patient safety
• Apply educational theory to enhance teaching and learning using simulation
• Learn from current research in healthcare and other industries to improve quality and efficacy in learning and system integration

 

Professional development as a Simulation Trainer

Over a 3 -12 month period following each Trainer-the-Trainer course participants can opt to develop their skills and apply for the award of a Simulation Trainer Certificate.  To achieve this they need to show evidence of professional development in their use of clinical simulation following their initial training. Example of what such a portfolio will include are:

• Reflective accounts of teaching practice
• Examples of educational design (e.g. clinical scenarios; course programs)
• Peer observations (at least 2 episodes of observing and giving written feedback on teaching practice and two written reports on your teaching practice from observers)
• Feedback from participants on teaching performance
• Evidence of a QI project using SBL
• Evidence of participation at a scientific conference in health education (e.g. poster or oral presentations)
• Evidence of scholarship in medical/clinical education

 

Advanced Train-the-Trainers Courses

St George’s Advanced Training the Trainer courses provide training for groups working in specific clinical areas. These courses can be delivered in the host area or hospital. We have considerable experience delivering these tailored programs both locally, nationally and internationally. Such programs are usually co-designed & developed with the client group to meet their specific needs. In general, a site-specific needs analysis will first be done to study the work environment, ergonomics and clinical personnel involved in the program. These programs can often be effectively used to probe local systems and to evaluate organisational processes. The core will be based around a two-day intensive series of workshops and small group teaching exercises, and the design of an evaluation strategy.

 

Key Words: simulation; simulation-based teaching; simulation based-learning. Scenario thinking; mental simulation; mobile simulation; high- fidelity simulation; simulated patients; feed up; feedback; feedforward; instructional design, briefing and debriefing, technical skills, non technical skills, learning; educational theory.

* Simulation and Technology-enhanced Learning Initiative, a project of the London Deanery, the postgraduate training authority for London

For further details/discussions, please contact:

Course Director: Huon.Snelgrove@stgeorges.nhs.uk

Simulation and Skills Specialists: Ylenia.DeFelici@stgeorges.nhs.uk and James.Godber@stgeorges.nhs.uk

Admin Team: Simulation.Admin@stgeorges.nhs.uk / tel. 0208 725 1119