Simulation community: What are your thoughts?
I am someone who is passionate about simulation faculty development. So much great work and thought globally has gone into the art and science of upskilling people to be thoughtful facilitators of simulation-based education.
As simulation facilitators we need to know how:
· to prebrief and why,
· how to establish and maintain psychological safety
· how to undertake manoeuvres that helps learners engage,
· how to effectively recognise and manage learner emotions
· How to have reflective learner centred conversations in the presence of emotions, differing clinical/professional disciplines and perspectives
That is a lot of stuff! No wonder simulation facilitators are often impacted by the size of this cognitive load.
So here are my thoughts – why is all the responsibility on the facilitator to develop their simulation skills? Why are we only teaching and supporting simulation facilitators/faculty in learning how to establish and maintain psychological safety, recognising, labelling and managing emotions and knowing how to phrase curious questions to enhance their own learning? Why is all the accountability on the facilitator? Why aren’t we teaching our learners these skills? Just like feedback – we teach facilitators/faculty on how to give feedback/debrief, but we don’t teach our learners how to receive it and how to effectively engage in the feedback conversation.
What if, for example, at a first-year undergraduate level, there was a program/workshop that aimed to develop and support students to engage in simulation-based learning?
That they were taught how to RESET – recognise, label, manage and work with their emotions. How to understand what may be inhibiting their engagement (cognitive frames) such as hierarchy of the facilitator. We could teach them to REFRAME their defensiveness (such as simulation pushback or being vulnerable) to instead get curious. What if they knew how to ENGAGE in a curious conversation, actively reflect, and know how to share and explore their perspectives, or seek clarification to help their own learning (Barlow et al., 2024).
Imagine the impact such skills, knowledge and communication capability this would have on their learning in their course and in clinical practice. It would build communication adaptability – enhancing conversations within and beyond the simulation lab.
My thoughts? We can’t just keep teaching faculty on how to engage in psychologically safe simulation and how to engage in curious conversations. We need our learners to have these skills. These are essential clinical skills that require targeted training and deliberate practice!
So, do you agree? Just like faculty development, do we need learner development in the art and science of simulation principles and practice to enhance their own learning and communication capabilities?
Reference
Barlow, M., Watson, B., Morse, K., Jones, E., & Maccallum, F. (2023). React, reframe and engage. Establishing a receiver mindset for more effective safety negotiations. Journal of Health Organization and Management, 38(7).https://doi.org/10.1108/JHOM-06-2023-0171