International Journal of Healthcare Simulation

Background:

Best practices indicate simulation sessions should be facilitated by a trained instructor to maintain a safe environment for learners. We developed and implemented a successful simulation facilitation training curriculum for nurse educators at our organization in 2018 ^[1], but as the COVID-19 pandemic was declared worldwide in March 2020 the program was put on hold. This pandemic has led to many innovations in health professions’ education, including nursing, to meet the ongoing need for prelicensure training to onboarding programmes at healthcare organizations. The nursing education department at our organization went through this same experience, based on what we have learned during the pandemic it is now time to revisit our simulation facilitation training program for new nurse educators.

Aim:

The aim of the study was to revise our current simulation facilitation curriculum ‘Introduction to Simulation’ with greater emphasis on delivery of the program through virtual processes.

Method/design:

Pulling from the educational methodology of the flipped classroom that has many advantages for the practicing professional such as improved learning performance, increased motivation and flexible learning ^[2] and our experiences with other nursing education programmes that required adaptation to a virtual context at our organization we will revise the current program. The program will change from a 1/3 virtual, 2/3 in-person model to a 2/3 virtual and 1/3 in-person model. We will redesign the current virtual content to be more engaging while shifting the in-class lecture to a webinar format delivered via our online meeting platform while still incorporating active learning strategies to meet the simulation facilitation learning needs of our new nurse educators. Following the ‘Introduction to Simulation’ webinar, the new nurse educators will attend an in-person session to practice facilitating simulation scenarios and debriefing and will be meta-debriefed by the workshop instructors to provide real-time constructive feedback.

Implementation outline:

This curriculum has yet to be implemented. We anticipate implementation in September 2021 with a cohort of 5 to 6 new nurse educators. The revised curriculum is anticipated to incorporate 2 hours of independent learning, 4 hours of an interactive webinar and 4 hours of simulation facilitation practice that will allow for the application of knowledge learned and feedback from simulation facilitation experts. After the workshop, we will seek feedback from workshop participants asking if this methodology met their learnings needs. We will use the outcomes of this first cohort to evaluate if this educational strategy is viable for ongoing program delivery.