International Virtual Simulation Education in Critical Care During COVID-19 Pandemic: Preliminary Description of the Virtual Checklist for Early Recognition and Treatment of Acute Illness and iNjury Program

Abstract

Summary StatementThe Checklist for Early Recognition and Treatment of Acute Illness and iNjury program is a well-established, interactive, and simulation-based program designed to improve the quality of care delivered in intensive care units. The COVID-19 pandemic created an overwhelming surge of critically ill patients worldwide, and infection control concerns limited healthcare providers' access to in-person and hands-on simulation training when they needed it the most. Virtual simulation offers an alternative to in-person training but is often complex and expensive. We describe our successful development and initial implementation of an inexpensive, simulation-based virtual Checklist for Early Recognition and Treatment of Acute Illness and iNjury program to address the pressing need for effective critical care training in various resource-limited settings both within and outside of the United States. The overall satisfaction rate (“excellent” or “very good” responses) was 94.4% after the virtual simulation workshop. Our initial experience suggests that virtual interactions can be engaging and build strong relationships, like in-person continuing professional education, even using relatively simple technology. This knowledge-to-practice improvement platform can be readily adapted to other disciplines beyond critical care medicine.

Digital Delivery of a Global Critical Care Education Program

“…The COVID-19 pandemic prompted the cancellation of all planned in-person CERTAIN courses in 2020. On the basis of our previous online training experience, the CERTAIN team pivoted to develop an online, interactive virtual course experience to better reach learners across the globe ( 13 – 15 ). Using a flipped classroom model, we produced 6 hours of on-demand online CERTAIN course modules for learners to complete asynchronously via Blackboard Learning Management System (Blackboard LMS).…”

Implementation of a Multimodal Knowledge-Exchange Platform to Provide Trauma Critical Care Education During the Ongoing Conflict in Ukraine

“… 13 , 14 Simpler approaches using commonly available technology and social media resources have been used for tele-education and clinical support during the COVID-19 pandemic among national and international health care collaborations. 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 However, the generalizability of these approaches to combat conditions and their possible impact on the quality of care and disease outcomes in critically ill trauma patients is unknown.…”

“…Barriers to effective implementation of international tele-consultation and tele-education programs include language differences and technical, cultural, and training issues, including the complex, expensive technology infrastructure often used in these programs . Simpler approaches using commonly available technology and social media resources have been used for tele-education and clinical support during the COVID-19 pandemic among national and international health care collaborations . However, the generalizability of these approaches to combat conditions and their possible impact on the quality of care and disease outcomes in critically ill trauma patients is unknown.…”

Building Critical Care Capacity in a Low-Income Country

“…Although published studies of ICU telemedicine show mixed results, 24 studies that consider context are associated with improvements in adherence to simple evidence-based daily care processes and survival outcomes. 25 , 26 …”