Over 120 educators and healthcare professionals gathered at Campbell University Jerry M. Wallace School of Osteopathic Medicine on Friday, June 12th for the Go SIMple Conference hosted by the medical school’s Simulation Center and The WakeMed Center for Innovative Learning.
“Medical and allied health educators and providers as well as public safety professionals from North Carolina, Virginia, and South Carolina were here,” said Robert Schmid, Technical Director for the Simulation Center at Campbell. “I was very pleased with the level of participant engagement, and the quality of interaction between individuals and groups was excellent.”
The agenda featured keynote presentations, rapid fire sessions on trending topics in simulation and education, breakout sessions focused on areas of interest such as audiovisuals and interprofessional training, and networking time.
“It was impressive to see an interprofessional group comparable to a national conference – over 100 professionals representing such a variety of niches in healthcare and healthcare education – in one room at a regional conference,” said speaker, Scott Newell, Simulation Specialist for Palmetto Health at the USC Simulation Center and former Learjet corporate pilot. Newell addressed human factors in healthcare and how his practice teaches implementing Crew Resource Management (CRM) – an aviation practice that eliminates the error chain – in healthcare. “CRM is a simple concept that can be implemented to optimize safety in healthcare just as it has in the world of aviation,” said Newell.
The Simulation Center at Campbell was designed as an integral part of healthcare curriculum. “Simulation training is an ever expanding area in medical education,” explained John M. Kauffman, Jr. DO, dean of Campbell’s medical school. “Our center will shape Campbell’s position in healthcare education and allow our students and all learners who come to the center to participate in state-of-the-art education to become better physicians and providers for North Carolina and the Nation.”
“The goal for simulation in education is as more capabilities become available, the match between the simulation and real patients is adequate to truly improve training and ultimately patient care,” said keynote speaker Mark W. Scerbo, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Psychology at Old Dominion University and adjunct professor at Eastern Virginia Medical School. “As technology evolves in medicine and emerging healthcare simulation technology, it is essential to evaluate whether the new technology is truly working as an effective teaching tool. I enjoy opportunities like Go SIMple because they showcase the synergy between healthcare and human factors – an approach that is a hybrid between psychology and engineering – it combines information about the mind and human behavior and applies this information to technology design.”
The conference was an interprofessional experience as is the real world of healthcare and healthcare education.
“I honestly believe [Go SIMple] was one of the most interesting and beneficial conferences I have attended in a long time,” said Dr. Nancy Duffy, Director of the Nursing Program at Campbell. “Nursing had a significant presence at the conference with nurse educators, clinical instructors, and a number of administrators. The content was certainly applicable to the entire interprofessional audience. An important concept that was addressed was the need for deliberate integration of communication and team function skills into the curricula of health profession students – this is a critical component of being ready for practice. Simulation products and technology expand at an amazing rate. The faculty challenge is to maintain awareness of both product and capability. Every educator in the room must thoughtfully plan and meet today’s student half way and assimilate technology into student centered learning formats.”
“The NC SIM Collaborative is excited to have had the opportunity to showcase Campbell University and the amazing work they are doing in education and simulation,” reflected Amar Patel, Director of The WakeMed Center for Innovative Learning.
Medical School Hosts Interprofessional Simulation Conference