Episode 120. Simulation in Healthcare with Dr Nancy Sadka
Simulation based medical education uses simulation aides to replicate clinical scenarios with the aim of enhancing patient safety by improving medical care and competence and reducing medical errors. Although relatively new to medicine, simulation has been used for a long time in other professions, such aviation. Increasingly, medical simulation is being recognized as a very important training method for doctors, nurses and allied health staff, allowing skill acquisition through deliberate practice. In simulation, a trainee may make mistakes in a controlled, no risk environment and learn from them without the fear of harming patients. This deliberate practice is aimed at taking medical staff from the “see one, do one, teach one” paradigm of apprenticeship style learning to the “see one, practice many, do one" simulation training model.
Simulation also builds group skills, cultivates team culture, and allows systems and processes to be practiced, reviewed and improved, enhancing medical competence. One of the main drivers for simulation-based learning and training relates to global study reports showing that up to 10% of patients admitted to hospitals suffer some kind of harm or injury through medical errors. A landmark report released in 1999 by the Institute of Medicine estimated that medical errors were responsible at that time for up to 98,000 deaths in the USA per year. These figures remind us that “to err is human”.
I was curious to take this conversation on medical simulation further and was honored to invite Dr Nancy Sadka, Emergency physician, ED clinical lead in education and research, and head of simulation training at The Northern Hospital in Epping, as a guest to this podcast. Please welcome Dr Nancy Sadka.
References:
Dr Nancy Sadka, www.nh.org.au
The future vision of simulation in healthcare, Gaba: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Simulation-based medical teaching and learning, AH Al-Elq :ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Training and simulation for patients safety, R Aggarwal: qualitysafety.bmj.com
To be a guest on the show or provide some feedback, I’d love to hear from you: manager@gihealth.com.au.
Dr Luke Crantock MBBS, FRACP, is a gastroenterologist in practice for over 25 years. He is the founder of The Centre for GI Health, based in Melbourne, Australia, and is passionate about educating General Practitioners and patients on disease prevention and how to manage and improve their digestive health.