By Lance Baily, founder and editor,
www.healthysimulation.com
(Reposted with permission.)
SimVentures is a joint collaborative of HealthStream & Laerdal Medical. Its SimManager platform was on display at IMSH 2013 at the SimCenter booth, right across from the Laerdal area. SimManager is an individual component of SimCenter, which also includes SimStore, SimDeveloper, and SimView. To better understand the relationship between these SimCenter components and the specific tools of SimManager I recorded an interview with Simulation Solutions Manager Lydon Small.
Watch the comprehensive video below to learn more about SimManager as well as to understand why such management systems can dramatically increase efficiency and reporting for your medical simulation program:
What I Learned about SimManager
SimManager is a cloud-based software service that requires an ongoing subscription fee automatically updated since there are no onsite hardware needs. SimManager is the back-end scheduling, reporting and content management system for operating the day-to-day needs of a healthcare simulation lab. SimManager schedules lab video recordings through SimView and holds purchased scenarios through SimStore.
SimManager can help you schedule an event using existing templates and modify those needs depending on the specific lesson plans for that day. Users can be given different administrative control capabilities, which means you can choose who can edit the calendar and how can view it, or request space. Having one person approve requests or create the calendar will certainly increase your program efficiency overtime and reduce scheduling headaches. Note that additional SimView systems that are utilized to capture simulation events are a hardware/software solution which currently provide log files back to SimManager (with plans to connect video in the future). In this sense, these different SimCenter components offer modular solutions that can be specific to the needs of your current or future simulation program.
SimManager also allows you to create exportable reports of room utilization that hold specific pieces of equipment in-order to better demonstrate ROI. Furthermore, SimManager allows for learner tracking to better identify changes in performance. This kind of tracking is crucial to demonstrate to higher levels of administration how staff, equipment and supplies are being utilized by the program.
Of course, purchased SimStore scenarios, handlers, trends and other multimedia components can be connected and controlled through SimManager, letting you allocate which licenses are utilized by which pieces of equipment.
HealthStream SimManager Features:
- Ability to manage simulation rooms, equipment, instructors, and simulation technicians.
- Can track, manage, and report
- Schedule and assign simulation learning activities
- Manage simulation content
- Integrates simulation scenarios into learning curricula
- Can customize role management to create varying access levels for administrators
- Configure and schedule reports for simulator utilization and activity
- Upload and store simulator debriefing files
- Capture simulation activity on learner transcripts
- Integrates with Laerdal simulators
- Integrates with SimCenter product suite, including SimStore, SimDeveloper, and SimView
Click here to learn more about SimManager.
By Lance Baily, founder and editor, www.healthysimulation.com and HealthySimAdmin, a 2-day conference designed to address the specific needs of Healthcare Simulation Program Administrators.
(Reposted with permission from www.healthysimulation.com.)
This post compiles the questions (and their answers) you should be asking of an experienced simulation program manager:
(1) How can we better utilize new media production?
We have all heard the saying that a “picture is worth a thousand words”. Well if that is true, then I would conjecture that a video is worth a million!
Imagine the long-term benefits of video recording trainings, procedures, and other tutorials once and then being able to share them an infinite number of times without having to require additional staff time. For example, does your simulation program provide its new clinical educators any type of training sessions for using the lab’s medical simulation technology? At the Clinical Simulation Center of Las Vegas we had a constant rotation of new clinical faculty who would be utilizing simulation, and so to save staff time we created numerous training videos. While shooting and editing a video takes additional time up front, once the video is complete and uploaded to youtube for free, it can then be shown hundreds of times with no additional effort. Here's an example that shows CSCLV’s lectern system orientation video and how media can increase efficiency and provide additional learning opportunities.
New media production can also be used to further engage with learners through social media. Take for example the Maricopa Nursing Program’s use of Stella, a fictional character manikin on social-media, who reminds students about deadlines, additional learning opportunities, and ways to relax before finals. Utilizing facebook and twitter, “Stella” has become a safe bridge between faculty and students that allows for a closer relationship. Read the article linked above to learn more about Stella.
Additionally, new media productions can also increase realism in your patient simulations. For example, record audio from the clinical environments your simulations are set in and play it back over the speakers in your sim-lab. Using new media can be as simple as printing out photos from the internet of wounds your simulated patients need to have diagnosed. Consider these media production applications for your simulation program:
The possibilities are endless! Check out the Clinical Simulation Center of Las Vegas website to see more examples of new media productions.
(2) How can we keep from starting over when we lose someone from our staff?
This is a crucial topic to immediately address for your medical simulation program. Numerous center administrators have commented to me that they have repeatedly lost years of experienced knowledge when a key simulation champion leaves their program after retiring, relocating, or finding a new position.
There are several ways to combat this challenge by having each of your staff members start doing the following:
- Update their job descriptions once a year with administrative review. This will ensure that their evolving position is up-to-date in case of a sudden departure.
- Provide monthly training sessions to other center staff demonstrating the performance of key job duties. This will help “spread the wealth” of knowledge so that other staff members can take over in the case of an emergency.
- Create a comprehensive and easy-to-follow “Standard Operating Procedures” manual that outlines key responsibilities and necessary procedure lists. This will help to ensure a new employee will have a “starting place” for all of the responsibilities of their new position from the previous staff member. At the CSCLV one such S.O.P. was over 35 pages and included directions for turning on manikins and restarting a/v servers. (This document is available to subscribers of SimGhosts.Org).
- Have all staff members attend weekly lab meetings where everyone shares updates. Use these meetings to share staff concerns, ask questions, share the week’s schedule and discuss other matters. This will also help ensure that other center staff is at least familiar with the process of others on their team.
(3) How can we get additional help without increased budgets?
As the Clinical Simulation Center of Las Vegas was launched in 2009 it quickly became apparent that we would need additional staff to help the expanding mission of our collaborative schools. Of course the revenue to do so did not yet exist!
On the suggestion of Gabriel Olivera, our Clinical Lab Coordinator, we immediately reached out to our local chapter of United Way, a non-profit volunteer organization. After meeting with their personnel and getting the necessary approval from the UNLV human resources department we were able to post a “volunteer position” with the United Way. Within a month we had three applicants and from that point on had a steady stream of volunteers working at the center throughout the week! Volunteers love working with simulation as its fascinating technology that provides experience that can be utilized in a variety of career fields. We even found a future hire from our volunteer pool – so consider volunteer options for your institution today!
Next we looked into student workers through UNLV. Student workers were great because we could find part-time employees who usually had flexible schedules during peak hours when we needed them most. Student workers were paid hourly and did not receive benefits compensation, which made them very cost effective for the center. Just be sure to engage in a rigorous interview process for these positions so that you can find quality candidates who will stay with you for the duration of their educational career.
Lastly after about two years the CSCLV had secured enough external revenue to secure a letter-of-appointment hire for a “jack of all trades” center lab assistant. This individual was specifically hired to cover night and weekend training events and support a variety of staff responsibilities so that they could cover when other department heads were out of the office. While this appointment did require additional funds, the increased number of external contracts the center could now run with the extra support more than made up for the cost of the position. Consider how to utilize external contracts to expand your center’s capabilities.
(4) How should we plan for changes in technology?
Planning for your medical simulation program’s long-term success demands you consider the guaranteed changes in technology. Just over ten years ago Google wasn’t a verb and most of us were suffering through Windows 2000 or ME. Moore’s Law states that computer processing power doubles almost every 18 months. Thus by the next decade processing power will have increased x 32! Would you use a laptop that was ten years old as your primary office system?
What will this dramatic change in technology mean for manikin hardware, audio-video servers, network bandwidth, pixel ratios and more? Even if we are standing in a brand-new state of the art simulation center, as medical simulation administrators we are responsible for considering the future needs of our programs.
Funds will absolutely be needed but finding ways of spreading out the costs over time will help ensure you have continued success without needing to be “bailed out”. To do this your lab needs to develop a “technology refresh cycle (TRC) plan” which considers the costs of replacing aging hardware at sections at a time.
What is a TRC? Well let’s say your sim lab had three rooms that utilized a lot of technology. With your TRC plan you could calculate the costs of replacing major components of a single room in-order of most to least important during a single year. Repeat this for the two additional rooms for two years following the first to come up with a total cost to the center. Your IT department and audio-visual integrator should be able to help you with projections for when systems will break down. Prevent this issue from becoming the straw the broke the camels back by planning ahead.
Of course this is a basic introduction to this concept, one which More detail about this is accomplished will be covered by Ferooz Sekandarpoor, IT Manager for the Centre of Excellence for Simulation Education and Innovation, and I will be covering in greater detail at HealthySimAdmin!
(5) How can we run our center more like a business?
Nothing can bring more success to your simulation lab then treating it more like a business. Consider that at the end of the day as a medical simulation program manager, you have fixed assets and capital costs against which you are attempting to drive a growing customer base.
In a recent survey of medical simulation administrators by Allen Giannakopoulos Ph.D., Corporate Director of Baptist Health South Florida, our community learned that “51% of [Simulation Centers] do not have an annual budget”. That estimates that half of simulation center administrators do not receive additional funding for increased output. Who then will pay for the increased costs of supplies, equipment malfunction, staff hours, facilities and administration?
A business that does not eventually “get in the black” and become profitable will eventually go bankrupt. I am not disputing that your simulation program has an educational mission, but in reality as a manager of simulation space you are operating a business. You must therefore, plan for ways to decrease costs and increase productivity in-order to gain the revenue necessary to continue to do business for years to come.
* * * * *
Changing the way we think about managing medical simulation and providing the tools to do so successfully is what HealthySimAdmin is all about. This conference focuses on how small changes in thinking can lead to major changes for your medical simulation program.
Learn more about HealthStream's Simulation Management solutions.
By Lance Baily, founder and editor, www.healthysimulation.com
Reposted with permission from www.healthysimulation.com.
Below are the answers to the Top 5 questions I am regularly asked about running a medical simulation program:
Where can I find medical simulation job descriptions?
How did you train faculty/educators in medical simulation?
How did you get educators to start running collaborative simulations?
How can we finally stop all these technology issues?
How much should we charge to outside users?
answers below:
__________________________________________________
5) Where can I find medical simulation job descriptions?
First, look at HealthySimulation.com’s medical simulation jobs listings to see some of the positions that have been posted by the community in the current market. Grab any of the job descriptions there that pertain to your new position and start building your database. Next, repeat that process on simplyhired.com, higheredjobs.com, and indeed.com – all of which regularly post job positions that are based in medical simulation.
There are also job descriptions for technical-based positions hosted on the subscribers-only section of SimGhosts.Org, which is the home of the Gathering of Healthcare Simulation Technology Specialists. You may also utilize the email list-serves of GHOSTS, as well as the International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation and Learning and the Society for Simulation in Healthcare to ask the community for their most recent job descriptions. SSH’s International Meeting for Simulation in Healthcare also has a jobs board as well.
Lastly, look for resources such as the California Healthcare Workforce Initiative’s “Simulation Technology Specialist” and “Simulation Coordinator” job responsibilities lists to get a better feel for your position description.
4) How did you train faculty/educators in medical simulation?
Before the Clinical Simulation Center of Las Vegas opened its doors in May of 2009 the three collaborative partners (University of Nevada Las Vegas SON, Nevada State College SON and the University of Nevada SOM) that would eventually make up the new program were all operating simulations through the knowledge gained and maintained by each institutions in-house “simulation champion”.
When the collaborative schools joined together under one roof for clinical training at the CSC in Las Vegas, the deans quickly realized that a standardized process would be required to foster interdisciplinary training and increase operational efficiency. So by 2010 the CSCLV hired an outside consultant group to provide a semester-long training program.
Summarizing, the CSCLV’s twenty four collaborative faculty spent about five days together across the semester learning the basics of simulation-based methodology. MedSimDesign continued to provide advanced debriefing training over the next two years as faculty began running simulation experiences with the new procedures they were learning. While the CSCLV advisory committee (comprised of the three deans and myself as the Director) felt that the training program was a success, by 2012 we would have to change the center’s operational mode. Due to the high rate of faculty turnover we could not continue to provide the resources necessary to train all of the 75+ educators in simulation facilitation and debriefing. Funds would instead be reallocated to provide for a “concierge model” at the center where only a handful of specific instructors were given release time to facilitate simulations for their programs. At least two educators from each institution were selected to continue to receive simulation based training so that knowledge would not be lost with continued faculty turn-overs.
We started with training a lot of educators a little bit about simulation and then moved to training a few educators a lot more about simulation. If we had to do it over again I still think this method worked as it not only demonstrated to a larger audience the work and process involved with operating medical simulation, but also provided a bigger pool from which “simulation champions” could be selected for continued program development.
3) How did you get educators to start running collaborative simulations?
The best part about having a multi-displinary simulation center is that educators from different clinical departments naturally meet one another in the halls! Just by chance “water-cooler meetings”, several mock code simulation collaborative sessions were organized between the Internal Medicine Resident group from the UN School of Medicine and the 4th level Nursing faculty from UNLV.
But the advisory committee of the CSCLV did not just leave collaborative simulation partnerships to chance and created several more opportunities for encouraging relationships. First, the CSCLV administration provided collaborative faculty simulation training sessions (mentioned above) to help “stir the pot” of our combined faculties. Next, interested collaborative faculty groups were provided small research stipends to encourage continued partnerships. As well, open house events for alumni and local media also provided an opportunity to request collaborative thinking by the three institution’s educators to help demonstrate the concepts behind medical simulation training. Finally, administration provided mixers for educators outside the center to further help blend the “silos of training”.
At the end of the day it really came down to providing additional resources to those “simulation champions” who really wanted to go above and beyond their required training to consider expanded collaborative based educational learning opportunities. You would be surprised how much offering to host a “working lunch” can get people in the room talking and planning for more!
2) Shouldn’t our technical problems have stopped happening by now?
Dozens of simulation administrators or IT directors have called me to ask “When do we get to stop borrowing the IT department’s support team?” The short and honest answer is never!
Medical simulation is a methodology that exists through the use of modern technology. Yes the manikin, microphone, cameras, ultrasound device, monitor, network, phones, speakers, and screen should always work perfectly every time–but they don’t. Having that initial support from the IT department should get 80% of the bugs of a new program, technology or space launched but at no point should anyone running a medical simulation lab believe that those remaining 20% of technical items can ever be solved permanently.
That remaining 20% is what ongoing maintenance through updating, debugging, reinstalling, backing up, de-fragging, cleaning, and generally operating is all about. Having a line item in your budget for at minimum a part-time IT support person should be built into your simlab budget not now, but yesterday. Put it this way to whoever has to final approval over your medical simulation program budget: Do you really want to pay a master’s prepared clinical educator to spend their entire day trying to fix something a Healthcare Simulation Technology Specialist (at 2/3rds or even half the rate) could handle in just under thirty seconds?
Running a medical simulation program means dealing with technology, which is rapidly changing and usually unstable. Hiring a Sim Tech is worth every penny – and then some.
1) How much should we charge to outside users? (If applicable)
Unfortunately there is not just one answer to this question. Each contract the CSCLV secured while I was Director was as unique as the client’s needs. But really the answer changes depending on your location mostly – because it should be whatever it would cost to take your entire team to Disneyland for the weekend. Read on to learn why I am only half-joking!
Whenever I am asked this #1 question I immediately ask one of my own: “What is your goal with trying to develop outside business contracts for your sim labs?”. Because at the end of the day you by taking on additional contracts you are asking to dramatically increase the workload on your simulation lab’s space, equipment and most importantly, staff. Why add extra work if it is not going to make your simulation center a better place in the long-run through better equipment, more staff and enhanced space?
What I am getting at is that the “pay out” better really be worth it, to not only cover expenses but make a real profit as well. Enough so that after the additional work is completed, your team can consider the amount of money that was earned for that work and all conclude that the services were not only a win for your clients… but for your center’s bank account as well.
This is why the price you charge outside users should feel like you get to stand up and shout “WE ARE GOING TO DISNEYLAND!”
Next your group must really determine its short and long-term business plans. You absolutely have to start launching smaller external revenue based contracts first before tackling larger contracts. This was a winning strategy for the Clinical Simulation Center of Las Vegas that ensured we could grow into the kind of success we saw! Thus, your pricing structure will need to change over time and will be unique to the needs of each of the new training contracts you bring in to your program. This is extremely important.
Next, consider these costs when trying to come up with a cost to charge outside users:
Who will be providing the educator for the training?
- Prop supply costs
- Medical supply costs
- AV equipment wear + tear
- Manikin equipment wear & tear + warranty costs
- Medical equipment wear & tear + warranty costs
- Staff hourly rates (including benefits if applicable)
- Administrative fees (scheduling, legal contract development, parking, lunch)
- Facilities maintenance costs (or square footage costs)
- Facilities operational costs (water, power, etc.)
- Marketing costs to advertise your program
Learn more about SimCenter, from HealthStream and Laerdal Medical.
Visit www.healthysimulation.com.
SimCenter and HealthStream were recently featured in an article about surgery simulation training in Healthcare IT News. Here's an excerpt from the article:
Taking a cue from aviation, today surgeons are better prepared than ever before
NASHVILLE, TN – In the past, surgery simulation was a crude approximation of what doctors really encounter – and they needed to be close to a teaching hospital to even try it. But surgery simulation is finally coming of age, thanks to breakthroughs in mobility, cloud-based software, and 3D imagery.
“There are now simulation mannequins that actually sweat, bleed and talk,” said Mollie Condra, associate vice president of Nashville-based HealthStream. “We partner with Laerdal Medical, the Norwegian-based global leader in mannequin design. Our SimCenter family of products provides software ‘scenarios’ that can be downloaded into the mannequins, plus software to help manage the complex logistics of scheduling and certification.”
These simulations cover more than surgeries, Condra added. Moreover, they can be conducted anywhere from a large hospital to an ambulance. Many healthcare organizations have been trying to manage these programs using Outlook or Excel, and that just does not work as well, she said.
HealthStream’s SimStore is a cloud-based collection of about 2,500 simulations that work in similar fashion to Apple’s iTunes. HealthStream provides developers with the toolkit needed to create simulation content, and healthcare users simply download the content they need. “This makes it very affordable, even for small hospitals,” said Condra.
For hospitals that can’t afford to build a simulation center, mobile sim labs can drive right up to the doorstep.
Read the full article.
Learn more about SimCenter.
Are you thinking about your hospital’s need to begin incorporating medical simulation training?
Would your organization benefit from allowing staff to train for the demands of emergency situations in a safe environment?
Are you overwhelmed by everything involved, even knowing how much it could benefit patients and your clinicians?
You are invited to join us for a free introductory webinar about medical simulation-based learning and assessment. Our goal is to help you understand what’s involved in creating a medical simulation training environment, and how easy it could be to improve outcomes and benefit patients.
Please join us for:
An Introduction to Simulation: What’s It All About; Getting Started
May 17, 2012 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM (CDT)
In this session, the presenter will explore the various applications of healthcare simulation in the industry today. From hospital-based education to university/school-based education, there are many applications for simulation-based training. This presentation will be applicable for those thinking of starting a simulation-based program or wanting to learn more about it.
Presenter:
Tom Dongilli, Director of Operations, WISER Institute
Tom Dongilli is Director of Operations for the WISER Institute. Prior to this position, he was the senior clinical simulation specialist for Laerdal Medical Corp. In that position, Tom would train simulation customers on the set up and maintenance of their simulators, curriculum development, and simulation center design and organization. In 1999 Tom helped design and open the Thomas Jefferson University Center for Medical simulation, where he served as the Chief Instructor. His primary responsibilities were to work with staff from different departments and help them create simulation courses based on their curriculum needs. Tom was also employed by MEDSIM Inc., a simulation company, where he worked with simulation center customers helping them start and improve their programs. To date, Tom has run thousands of simulation based training sessions. He contributes expert knowledge and experience in the practical design, implementation, maintenance and monitoring of simulation based medical learning systems.
About Wiser Institute:
The Peter M. Winter Institute for Simulation, Education, and Research (WISER), a collaboration between UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh, is the world’s leading healthcare simulation center affiliated with an academic medical center.
The WISER mission is to improve patient safety and increase the effectiveness of healthcare education for all care providers. This mission is accomplished through education, research, advanced instructional technology, and the development and assessment of innovative simulation programs.
Register for the Webinar.
Learn More About Simulation.
SimCenter in the News
HealthStream's joint venture with Laerdal Medical, SimCenter, has been featured significantly in recent media. The following feature stories focus on the SimView™ and SimManager™ launches, along with product news. Notable mentions below include news from MarketWatch, medGadget, InformationWeek, Green Technology World, Chief Learning Officer, Investor’s Business Daily, and Today in PT Magazine.
Highlights Below:
MarketWatch, 31 January 2012
“HealthStream and Laerdal Medical Launch SimManager(TM), a Comprehensive, Easy-to-Use Application for Managing Healthcare Simulation Education Programs”
medGadget, 31 January 2012
“HealthStream and Laerdal Unveil New Clinical Simulator Management Tools”
Information Week, 3 February 2012
“Mannequins Recruited To Teach Medicine”
Green Technology World, 3 February 2012
“HealthStream and Laerdal launch SaaS application for simulation-based training”
Chief Learning Officer Magazine, 1 February 2012
“HealthStream and Laerdal Medical Launch Application for Managing Education Programs”
Investor’s Business Daily, 15 March 2012
“HealthStream Takes Medical Training Into The Cloud”
HealthStream and Laerdal have combined our experience and knowledge to make simulation easier. With SimCenter, we are removing many barriers to adopting and integrating simulation into current curricula. It combines curriculum delivery, learning management, debriefing, and competency assessment in a single, fully-integrated platform. SimCenter, which can be purchased as separate components or a single solution, improves orientation of new hires and continuing education for experienced employees, while creating a more efficient process for evaluating staff competencies. By using validated content from industry leaders and delivering it in a usable, manageable format, simulation is truly made easier. SimCenter is a tool that can be used to complement current educational programs and support educational objectives.
Learn More about SimCenter and Medical Simulation Training Here.
2012 Is A Critical Year for Healthcare!
The number of large-scale issues and concerns facing hospitals is staggering. It seems that the challenges facing healthcare organizations have rarely been as great as this moment when government initiatives, regulations, and demographic changes require healthcare providers to change how they provide care and do business.
As counselors and advisors to hospitals and organizations across the country, HealthStream's research consultants pay lots of attention to approaching issues as well as to the concerns they hear from healthcare executives. When problems threaten, we work to help customers find solutions and handle them in the best way possible.
One recent task we set for ourselves at HealthStream was to identify the top ten issues for which healthcare providers need to prepare. Some of these are driven by changes in the patient population; others are directly linked to the Affordable Care Act and other government initiatives. It is clear that healthcare is in the process of major change, and our goal is to help healthcare organization be ready for it.
Here are the top ten issues that we have identified:
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Aging Baby Boomers Will Change the Healthcare Market
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Government Initiatives are Leading to Financial Uncertainty for Hospitals
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It’s the Right Place and Right Time for Simulation
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Patient-Centered Medical Homes Solve Some Big Problems for the Healthcare Industry
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2012 is a Make or Break Year for Meaningful Use
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The Race is on for ICD-10 Implementation
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Everyone’s Watching the ACO Early Adopters
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Hospitals See Business Value of Social Media
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CG-CAHPs Has Become the New Hot Survey
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Convergent Healthcare Workforce Problems are Creating a “Perfect Storm”
- A Medical Simulation-Based Training Success Story for Allina Hospitals & Clinics, Minnesota & Wisconsin, U.S.
Both mother and baby can experience significant harm if they experience Shoulder Dystocia (SD), a serious obstetric emergency. Injuries of this sort are among the leading causes for hospitals to be involved in obstetric litigation cases in the United States. Among Minesota- and Wisconsin-based Allina Hospitals & Clinics, a simulation customer of HealthStream partner Laerdal Medical, SD occurred between under 3% of the time, which left obstetric clinical professionals feeling inadequately prepared for this emergency event. The obstetric management staff introduced simulation training so that clinicians could practice their learned skills, experience the condition, and make mistakes in its treatment safely.
Positive feedback During Simulation Training Helps Clinicians Get it "Right"
Hands-On Simulation Training supplemented films and literature review and discussion for each training class. Physicians and nurses, who understood their roles and how they should act in this sort of an emergency, communicates and performed the same as if this were a actual patient situation. During the ‘hands-on’ training, the PROMPT Birthing Simulator from Laerdal Medical was set up in a delivery room. In a hybrid simulation environment, a nurse acted as the delivering mother, sitting in the bed behind the simulator and enhancing the experience of a live clinical environment. As the simulation progressed, the acting “mother” positioned the infant in the birth canal and the simulator measured how the strength with which physicians worked to extract the baby as delivery occurred. Different maneuvers and techniques were used by individual clinicians, including breech, vacuum, forceps, normal delivery, and SD.
Simulation-Based Training Improves Quality & Speed of Response to SD & Other Birthing Complexities
Adverse events occurred with much less frequency during the simulated delivery and in actual practice thereafter:
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10.5% of all SD babies had an APGAR score less than 7 at 5 min. in 2007. Only 1.2% were scored below 7 in 2009.
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Maternal hemorrhage subsequent to SD delivery fell from 10% to 6.7%
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brachial plexus injuries and uterine ruptures were diminished
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At least one facility measured a decrease in the amount of time that occurred between identification of SD and delivery
Physicians gave high marks to the simulation-based training program
Five PROMPT Simulators placed in three Allina metro hospitals as well as at the corporate offices for training use. Allina's Pregnancy Care Council strongly recommends training participation; some hospitals make it a requirement for credentialing. Even physicians who were initially recalcitrant now have come around to an endorsement. And, all participants said the hands-on training was particularly beneficial. Many said, “this was the best class I’ve been to in years.” “The data is dramatic,” said a hospital representative. “We’re strong believers. It has worked out very well for us.”
Learn More About Improving Outcomes with Simulation.
Visit SimCenter to Learn More About Simulation.
Request Information.
Through our collaborative arrangement, SimVentures, HealthStream and Laerdal Medical have launched two groundbreaking tools, SimManager and SimView, designed to revolutionize healthcare simulation education.
Simpler Management of Healthcare Simulation Education
The increased focus on patient safety has stimulated a booming interest in healthcare training through simulation. However, many simulation-related processes remain labor-intensive, and education managers are often already resource challenged. SimManager simplifies administrative tasks; it is a comprehensive application for managing all aspects of a simulation-based training program. Scheduling training, assigning learning activities, coordinating instructor schedules, tracking progress, delivering reports, and managing the logistics of simulation rooms and equipment are all streamlined through the use of SimManager.
Some of the specific capabilities of SimManager include:
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Ability to manage simulation rooms, equipment, instructors, and technicians
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Can track, manage, and report
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Schedule and assign simulation learning activities
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Manage simulation content
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Integrates simulation scenarios into learning curricula
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Can customize role management to create varying access levels for administrators
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Configure and schedule reports for simulator utilization and activity
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Upload and store simulator debriefing files
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Capture simulation activity on learner transcripts
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Integrates with Laerdal simulators
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Integrates with SimCenter product suite, including SimStore, SimDeveloper, and SimManager
As a system for managing simulation-based training and education programs, SimManager is a complete, single source solution. When SimManager is chosen by healthcare organizations using the HealthStream Learning Center™ (HLC), there are added benefits. Approximately half of U.S. hospitals currently utilize the HLC to deliver and track online training programs and manage classroom-based educational activities for approximately 2.7 million healthcare professionals. When SimManager is added as an extension to the HLC, all of the core learning features and capabilities in the HLC are made available, providing a powerful toolset for simulation-based training that is already familiar to HLC users.
More Effective Simulation Training Debriefing
Debriefing is a critical part of simulation-based education, and it is made more effective with SimView, the next generation debriefing tool that was built from Laerdal’s original Advanced Video System (AVS) product. The new debriefing system provides robust tools to accurately replay scenarios where students worked with patient simulators—showing what actually occurred, as opposed to perceptions of what occurred. SimView automatically integrates data from up to four video cameras, a microphone, and patient monitoring with the event log from the advanced patient simulator. Instructors can add comments to the log during a scenario and can easily manage the delivery, storage, and distribution of the debriefing files.
Some of the capabilities of SimView include:
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Captures simulation events with four IP or analog cameras, a microphone, and a computer
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Captures video, audio, data logs, and “patient” vital signs and then replays scenarios with
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instructor annotations
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Creates a single, time-indexed debriefing file for effective evaluation
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Enables viewing of live events while monitoring vital signs, annotating in real-time.
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Provides robust evaluation capabilities via embedded tools and assessment templates
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Integrates with SimCenter product suite, including SimStore, SimDeveloper, and SimManager
SimView offers healthcare providers a highly effective means of maximizing their investment in simulation-based learning. Capturing data through SimView significantly enhances students’ learning opportunities in a risk-free, realistic training environment, contributing to their organizations’ overall goal of maintaining a well-trained workforce to deliver excellent patient care.
Learn more about SimManager and SimView.
Nursing students across the globe can now access the faculty-developed curriculum used at UT Arlington’s Smart Hospital™ through a new partnership with HealthStream and Laerdal Medical. The two companies launched SimStore™ early this year – an Internet-based resource for educational institutions and healthcare providers that are incorporating simulation-based training and patient simulators into their coursework and education programs. At the site, educators can purchase downloadable simulation-based scenarios that teach everything from infant medication administration to advanced life support for hypothermia.
Working Like iTunes for Simulation-Based Training Content
Working in a manner akin to Apple's iTunes, UT Arlington’s College of Nursing, with more than 6,000 students, will receive royalties from sale of the simulation-based training content at the SimStore. Those funds will be invested back into its Smart Hospital, a 13,000 square foot center with 40 computerized patients in realistic hospital units. The College of Nursing at UT Arlington was one of only 15 institutions and organizations chosen to provide initial content. Some of the other simulation-based training providers featured at the SimStore include the National League for Nursing, the American Heart Association and The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. To date, there are over 30 content providers, worldwide, for SimStore.
SimStore is one component of SimCenter, which is dedicated to making the adoption of simulation-based training easier. Simulation-based training enables learners to practice difficult or infrequently used procedures in a safe environment and can play an integral role in orienting new hires. In partnership with Laerdal, HealthStream has introduced SimCenter and SimStore to revolutionize your ability to grow and develop simulation-based training programs. Featuring quality educational materials for users of all levels and backgrounds, SimStore provides educators with an easy-to-use, efficient tool for delivering simulation-based curricula.
According to Elizabeth Poster, dean of the UT Arlington College of Nursing, “this initiative is a good example of how the College of Nursing partners with leading manufacturers of healthcare training and simulation technology, such as HealthStream and Laerdal Medical, to achieve its goals and benefit students.”
“Simulation facilities are more and more filling the role of the laboratory situations that all of the nursing programs in the world have to provide,” said Carolyn Cason, interim Vice President for Research at UT Arlington and an associate dean in the College of Nursing. “Our potential market is a global one.”
