The Experiences of Commencing an In Situ Simulation Education Programme in an Acute and Critical Inpatient Hospital Environment

Abstract

Simulation-based experiences (SBE) are being utilised increasingly within healthcare environments worldwide (Motolo, Devine, Chung, Sullivan, & Issenberg, 2013). SBE may improve a learner's technical and non technical skills (Abe, Kawahara, Yamashina, & Tsuboi., 2013) which includes their knowledge, confidence, teamwork, communication, and the understanding of healthcare professionals' roles. Improved team work, interprofessional collaboration, communication, and coordination that can lead to an increase in the quality of patient care and ultimately improved patient outcomes (Weller & Civil, 2017; Decker, et. al., 2015). In situ SBE refers to an educational opportunity which occurs within a patient care setting where healthcare professionals would normally provide their services (INACSL Standards Committee, 2016a), allowing teams to test their own effectiveness as well as hospital processes (Spur, Gatward, Joshi, & Carly, 2016). This paper will reflect on the experiences of the first two years of an in situ SBE programme which commenced in October 2017. The in situ SBE described predominantly occurred within a coronary care unit, on cardio-thoracic, respiratory, cardiology and renal wards as well as a cardiac catheter lab. The authors also extended their in situ SBE into other specialist areas within the tertiary hospital they work in. The content will reflect on the impact upon clinical practice, latent safety risk identification, the challenges experienced and interprofessional as well as interdepartmental SBE. METHOD About the environment Dunedin Public Hospital (DPH) is situated in the lower South Island of New Zealand. The hospital is a 388-bed tertiary facility employing over 3,000 staff and servicing the Otago and Southland population of around 300,000. The cardiology department is the regional centre for myocardial infarction management, as well as being a cardiac surgical centre.