The Clinical Simulation Conference will take place on August 17, 2023 at the Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, BC. They are now accepting abstracts until June 17, 2023. Please see below for more information on the call for abstracts. More details about the conference, can be found here.
The St. Paul’s Foundation team has put together a case for support for our active donors. Click here to learn more.
On April 27 and May 8, 2023, the CSICU staff participated in a 2 hour simulation session as part of an education day. The participants included CSICU RNs, perfusion staff and anesthesia staff. Click here to see what they experienced.
John Bonilla, our Simulation Technical Coordinator was sent to Wappinger Falls, NY in April 2023 to attend Laerdal’s 3-day workshop called ‘Advanced Care and Maintenance Course’ for SimMan 3G. The workshop was taught by Laerdal’s Field Service Engineers and had up to 6 participants. Upon completion, John was awarded the ‘SimMan 3G Advanced Care and Maintenance Course Certificate’ that is valid for 2 years. With this certification, John can perform various maintenance and care functions to ensure the upkeep of the SimMan 3G.
UBC Family Practice Program – Indigenous Sites
“As someone who works in remote communities, Sim training is invaluable. I get to make mistakes in a safe setting where no one gets hurt, and I bring that learning to my work. So often I’m encountering clinical scenarios I haven’t yet addressed in real life but I have practiced in Sim.
With the help of St Paul’s Sim program, I am building a Sim program for the UBC Family Medicine Indigenous Site, to offer residents who work in remote Indigenous communities the opportunity to build their skills, teamwork, knowledge and confidence. I strongly believe Sim training gives doctors the confidence to do rural and remote work, who might not otherwise consider it.”
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Mary Koziol, MD CCFP (she/her)
Primary Care Physician, Carrier Sekani Family Services
mary.koziol@mail.mcgill.ca
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ICU – St. Paul’s Hospital
“The best of both worlds. Simulation is applying didactic learned knowledge into action. That ‘deer caught in the headlights’ look, your body is frozen while someone is dying in front of you. Making mistakes is a GOOD thing during simulation.
How about our multigenerational mix of staff? From 22 years old to 72 years old! We all learn differently but everyone must put it to the same action.
With simulation, there’s less talking and more doing. The learned tactile knowledge of how to use equipment and adapting procedures to our own physical limitations or the team’s physical limitations. When the bed is in the lowest position for the CPR provider, the physician has to squat in order to look into the patient’s mouth to put a breathing tube into the trachea. The most important person is the one performing the best CPR for optimal brain recovery. Improving patient care and saving lives. Team building with staff, learning each other’s quirks and bonding with side conversations. A bond that can last a lifetime.
Simulation provides peace of mind for instructors. We can see when the light bulb goes off and staff are applying knowledge to action. We can provide more practice with simulation for those that need a little more time. Responsive teaching with simulation. We can’t go backwards.”
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Susan Bello RN, BSN
Clinical Nurse Educator, ICU
St. Paul’s Hospital, Vancouver
ICU Code Blue Fun Days!
Our Intensivist lead for residents runs simulations twice a month with the full team consisting of RNs, RTs and MDs. We run through all the ACLS algorithms, the most challenging scenarios are when the patients have a pulse! Scenarios evolve depending on the decisions made by the Code Team Leader.
Once every 3 months, we onboard nursing staff to the Code Blue Team using simulation. This is where mistakes are made but SimMan (I’ve named him Chad) always survives.
Testimonials: “Thank you for the experience!” “I had forgotten that, it was nice to review it.”
On October 12, a fundraising event was held by the St. Paul’s Foundation. Called the Health Innovation Series, it was a fantastic opportunity to showcase PHC’s current simulation activities to donors and to hopefully inspire longer term donors to continue to support PHC Simulation.
Thanks to the representatives from Laerdal for coming and setting up the mannequins.
The mannequin featured in this photo is the latest Sim Man 3G model that should be arriving to PHC in late December.
We are happy to announce Malavika Menon has accepted the position of PHC professional practice and simulation.
Her start date will be October 24, 2022. She can be contacted at: mmenon3@providencehealth.bc.ca
At the beginning of the pandemic, Providence Health Care’s (PHC) clinicians at St. Paul’s
Hospital faced a growing problem. Patients were arriving daily with severe breathing difficulties, many needing breathing assistance from a procedure to insert a tube into the throat, called intubation.
Adding to the complexity, many of the patients were frail and infectious with COVID-19. Soon, the trained clinicians couldn’t keep pace with the demand for this life-saving procedure. They turned to medical simulation, using a “smart” mannequin to train additional health providers to become expert at the skill — learning in full personal protective equipment.
A protracted emergency like COVID-19, laid bare the need for expanded capacity and options for experiential training across the health care system. This became evident in central hubs like Vancouver, but also exposed the critical need to create remote experiential learning opportunities, particularly for under-served areas such as rural towns and villages and Indigenous communities.
Read From Mannequin to Metaverse: Advancing experiential health care training to learn more about the opportunities for immersive training – and beyond.
