International Journal of Healthcare Simulation

Background:

In the UK, it is a requirement for staff involved in paediatric critical care to remain up to date with advanced paediatric life support (APLS). To do so there is an expectation to participate in face-to-face courses on a four-yearly basis. The Advanced Life Support Group (ALSG), an organization dedicated to supporting professional education, sought to add to their resources in line with advances in online capabilities. With stakeholder input, the goal emerged to develop an engaging, interactive and entirely novel educational product. Here we present the pilot stages of our project.

Aim:

The aim of this project was to produce an educationally effective and novel product that learners of APLS would engage with and enjoy.

Method/design:

Stage 1 involved determining clearly defined learning objectives mapped to the APLS curriculum. At a round table with stakeholders, educationalists, and a technologist an outline of the project was formed and the scenario of a sick baby with bronchiolitis chosen for a pilot. Informed by literature on serious game design, a branching narrative was created. Stage 2 involved collating resources. A photoshoot at Leicester Royal Infirmary A&E (Accident and Emergency) created a set of images. A video shoot at the Royal London Hospital A&E generated a series of videos. These were then edited and used to create a Microsoft PowerPoint slide set. Voiceovers to text, sound effects to add a hospital atmosphere and questions were then added. Stage 3 involved taking this draft and translating it into an interactive final product utilizing Articulate Software. This enabled its usage across smartphone, desktop, and laptop devices. Testing followed with anonymous online feedback informed by the 7Is framework ^[1]. (Domains include; interaction, interface, instruction, ideation, integration, implementation, and improvement.)

Implementation outline:

We launched the pilot version at the RCPCH (Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health) Conference 2021. Feedback was collected from delegates and continues to be collected via online participants. It is hoped that ongoing quality improvement cycles will assist in assuring a finished fully functional online virtual advanced paediatric life support simulation for release in 2022. Further stakeholder review is pending. Thus far it has been met with universal approval, i.e. all learners questioned expressed that they would like to utilize this novel style of education again. The average duration to complete the virtual simulation was 15 minutes. All learners rated their knowledge and skills in APLS to be either unchanged/revised or improved. Finally, interactivity online was felt to need improvement by most participants. Interactivity is key if high levels of engagement are to be achieved. Future testing will determine whether any educational impact is maintained across time. The current pilot version can be accessed at the following webpage https://2020courses.alsg.org/course/view.php?id=1869.