The Simulation Centre
Welcome to my latest blog. As part of my master’s course I recently had the opportunity to spend some time at the Post Grad Centre at the QMC in Nottingham. There was a group of us who undertook the simulation module and as part of that we ran scenarios for each other. We had a great time playing with the toys; the manikins available are computer driven and they talk, sweat, cry and respond to treatment. Trying to describe the experience doesn’t really do it justice.
Generally groups of learners spend a few hours or a whole day in the simulation centre. Learners work as a team to care for the ‘patient’; one of the key skills that they get to practise is communication. This is an area which was commented on in NCEPOD ‘Time to Intervene’. In the ‘sim centre’ learners can practice teamwork, leadership skills and escalating care; they can practise assessing and caring for a patient for any condition. Whilst caring for their ‘patient’ they are observed either through a one way window or by live video link and recorded, this to improve the opportunity for debrief as in the ‘sim centre’ this is where a lot of the learning takes place, debrief is at least as long as the scenario itself.
Having had the opportunity to take part in a simulation at the Post Graduate Centre at the QMC in Nottingham I think this method of teaching has a lot to add to training. It will never replace clinical experience but it allows learners to develop knowledge and experience of events that either don’t happen very often or are critical when they do. As with all training, what is vital is that learners engage with the process and certainly the more they engage the more there is to gain. I thoroughly enjoyed my experiences at Nottingham and the QMC run courses for their dentists so they can practise their dental emergencies, unfortunately this is a service only available to their employees. If you get the opportunity to have a go in a sim centre I would recommend it, if you have experience of it and would like to share your experience then I would be pleased to hear your comments.
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