Conferences are a wonderful opportunity to meet and talk with colleagues and industry experts. The International Meeting for Simulation in Healthcare (IMSH) collects the expertise of healthcare education and simulation leaders globally. IMSH hosted dozens of interactive sessions on a broad range of topics. Here were a few of the most common topics discussed in 2018:
Latent safety threats (LSTs) or Latent risk factors (LRFs):
What are they? Issues in underlying design, organization, training, or maintenance of hospital personnel and facilities that can lead to medical errors and dangers to patient safety.
What was discussed? Several speakers discussed discovering LSTs through in situ simulation in places like emergency care units, the NICU, pediatric centers, new hospitals, etc.
Where can I learn more? The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) has a scholarly article on identifying LSTs with high-fidelity simulations.
Inter-professional simulation or Inter-professional education (IPE):
What is it? Engagement among professionals of different health backgrounds to enhance knowledge and improve processes. (Source)
What was discussed? Discussion reviewed the outcome of IPE among students and professionals as well as standards for IPE and the focus of IPE sessions such as communication.
Where can I learn more? For outcomes, the NCBI’s article Learning outcomes for interprofessional education (IPE): Literature review and synthesis examines findings on 88 citations between 1988 and 2009. For standards, review the National League for Nursing’s Guide to effective interprofessional education experiences in nursing education.
Debriefing Assessment for Simulation in Healthcare (DASH):
What is it? A tool used to assist evaluators while conducting debriefings to help students better review and analyze their actions and thinking during simulations. (Source)
What was discussed? Topics included using DASH for debriefing, using analytics to monitor simulation effectiveness, and evaluating debriefing sessions with limited resources.
Where can I learn more? The Center for Medical Simulation has resources for using DASH.
Virtual reality (VR):
What is it? Realistic, three-dimensional representations of environments projected using technology such as eyewear.
What was discussed? The exhibit hall hosted several VR demonstrations daily. Sessions examined its effectiveness in education.
Where can I learn more? Ask your regional Pocket Nurse sales representative about demonstrating VRPatients from Virtual Education Systems (VES). Pocket Nurse is a distributor for VES, and you can find equipment and licenses on our website.
Pocket Nurse values these opportunities to learn more about innovations, issues, and practices in the healthcare simulation and medical education fields. Stay tuned to learn more about other tradeshows we’ll be attending, and how to meet up with us at them.
