In research, the adoption of a framework is essential. It enables researchers to operate with specified parameters and provides structure and assistance with research projects, programs, and technologies. The incorporation of a framework also facilitates the organizing and planning of our research efforts with respect to the breadth and depth of what we want to discover. Frameworks are equally important in research focused on simulation-based education. Simulation-based education is a form of experiential learning that provides participants with the opportunity to acquire or improve real-world-like knowledge and skills in a simulated environment. The Medical Research Council framework, historically developed to guide clinical research, has been proposed as a framework to guide simulation research as well. However, because simulation-based education is positioned at the intersection of clinical and educational sciences, certain questions cannot be addressed using a clinical research framework. Thus, in this paper, we introduce an alternative framework, derived from educational sciences, to be considered and possibly adapted into simulation research. The design-based research (DBR) framework consists of four stages centered on design, testing, evaluation, and reflection. This editorial asserts that the DBR is an excellent framework for projects and programs of research in simulation.

The ability of healthcare workers to communicate effectively with dementia patients is critical in the healthcare context. This is because persons with dementia have difficulty expressing their views due to cognitive and language impairments. Therefore, it becomes essential that healthcare workers obtain the necessary training to handle the needs and concerns of persons with dementia. Furthermore, when the severity of the illness worsens, people with dementia may find it difficult to communicate verbally, so they rely heavily on nonverbal communication. Nonverbal communication is very useful for indicating pain and suffering. Identifying these nonverbal indicators by health experts allows them to begin treatment sooner, ultimately increasing the quality of life. Studies have found simulations to be an effective way of educating health professionals in the development/improvement of communication skills; however, they lack the capacity to identify and act on specific nonverbal signs. This editorial suggests that using communication accommodation theory (CAT) could be an effective tool for teaching communication skills to health professionals. CAT can give a framework for an improved understanding of nonverbal indications in dementia patients and strategies for healthcare practitioners to alter and use that information in patient care.

Simulation is a common method for teaching and enhancing healthcare skills. Nevertheless, the construction of a simulation scenario is expensive and time-consuming and requires a great deal of effort. As a result, it is imperative that we make quality improvements to the process of scenario construction. When this is accomplished, we will be able to enhance the existing scenarios, develop new ones, and ultimately enhance these teaching tools. Currently, publishing simulation scenarios as peer-reviewed technical reports is one way to ensure quality and global sharing of scenarios. Yet, another undiscovered potential to further improve the quality of scenarios once the peer-review process is complete is to allow the original scenario designers to reflect on their creative processes using podcasting. This paper proposes that podcasting can be used as a supplement to the peer-review process to address this issue. Podcasting is one of the prevalent forms of media in the twenty-first century. There are currently numerous podcast channels in the healthcare simulation space. However, the majority are focused on introducing simulation experts or discussing issues in healthcare simulation, and none are focused on making quality improvements to clinical simulation scenarios with the authors. We propose to make quality improvements with scenario designers using podcasting in order to communicate information to the public and evaluate what went well and what might have been done better in order to inform future developers.