The view from here
Turning old into new Claudia Schlegel, Bern Centre of Higher Education of Nursing, Berne, Switzerland Maya Shaha, Institute of Higher Education and Research in Nursing, University of Lausanne, Switzerland
S
imulation in clinical instruction provides excellent opportunities for safe and effective learning.1 Simulation is taken from the Latin simulare, ‘to copy, represent’. It is a method that enables the learning and training of individuals and teams by recreating ‘real’ clinical situations. Simulation is the artificial but sufficiently realistic representation of a complex real-world process, with the aim of facilitating learning through immersion, reflection, feedback and practise, minus the risks inherent in a similar real-life experience. Simulation allows individuals or teams to learn, practise and repeat procedures as often as necessary in order to correct mistakes, develop professional competencies, fine-tune skills and ultimately improve patient outcomes. In addition, the performance of groups of individuals can be compared at the same level. Thus, performance standards can be set. Tasks can also be staged
according to experience level, allowing novices to practise core skills before attempting complex procedures.1 Medical education increasingly emphasises curricula based on cognitive, psychomotor and affective domains of learning.2 The best standards of care, error management and patient safety, patient autonomy, and resource allocation underpin the curricula. In addition, there has been a worldwide shift in the pedagogy of medical education towards experiential (‘hands-on’) medical learning.3 To create such training opportunities, models or manikins simulating ‘almost real’ situations are predominant in schools of the health professions. Many different kinds of models or manikins help students to practise their manual skills; however, these models or manikins are expensive. After a while, they become worn, can even break and are no longer of use for specific requirements,
such as the model arm for venous punctures. At the school of nursing in Berne, Switzerland, we decided to repair damaged manikins to obtain ‘new’ models or manikins for different useful simulations. One of the most common models is the ‘vein arm’ with which students learn to puncture a vein. After hundreds of students had practised their skills of vein puncturing with the ‘vein arm’, it was no longer usable. Even the ‘skin’ of the ‘vein arm’ had been replaced several times. What is to be done with a ‘vein arm’ that can no longer be used as intended? A consultation of our curriculum and the respective competencies inspired us regarding re-use. The curriculum of our Centre of Higher Education of Nursing, Berne, Switzerland, includes changing the dressing of a wound around an external fixator. Therefore, with the support of local hospitals, the worn out ‘vein arm’ was transformed into an arm with an external fixator.
We decided to repair damaged manikins to obtain ‘new’ models or manikins for different useful simulations
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. THE CLINICAL TEACHER 2014; 11: 561–562 561
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Innovation is limitless, and a fair amount of imagination and creativity is needed
Innovation is limitless, and a fair amount of imagination and creativity is needed to rebuild new models from old and used ones. Our students help to create new models from old ones together with our faculty staff. They have a lot of fun and there is also a considerable learning effect. REFERENCES
Now our students have the opportunity to practise changing the dressing of external fixator wounds in a safe environment. Similarly, the torso of a broken
manikin was refashioned into a chest tube model, used to demonstrate the principle of a vacuum, thereby allowing students to practise.
1.
Datta R, Upadhyay K, Jaideep C. Simulation and its role in medical education. Medical Journal Armed Forces India 2012;68:167–172.
2.
Zendejas B, Brydges R, Wang AT, Cook DA. Patient outcomes in simulation-based medical education: a systematic review. J Gen Int Med 2013;28:1078–1089.
3.
Satava RM. The revolution in medical education—the role of simulation. J Grad Med Educ 2009;1:172–175.
Corresponding author’s contact details: Claudia Schlegel, Berner Bildungszentrum Pflege, Skillslab, Freiburgstrasse 133, 3008 Bern, Switzerland. E-mail: [email protected]
Funding: None. Conflict of interest: None. Ethical approval: Not required. doi: 10.1111/tct.12201
562 © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. THE CLINICAL TEACHER 2014; 11: 561–562
tct_12201.indd 562
11/13/2014 1:45:16 PM
Copyright of Clinical Teacher is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.
Turning old into new Claudia Schlegel, Bern Centre of Higher Education of Nursing, Berne, Switzerland Maya Shaha, Institute of Higher Education and Research in Nursing, University of Lausanne, Switzerland
S
imulation in clinical instruction provides excellent opportunities for safe and effective learning.1 Simulation is taken from the Latin simulare, ‘to copy, represent’. It is a method that enables the learning and training of individuals and teams by recreating ‘real’ clinical situations. Simulation is the artificial but sufficiently realistic representation of a complex real-world process, with the aim of facilitating learning through immersion, reflection, feedback and practise, minus the risks inherent in a similar real-life experience. Simulation allows individuals or teams to learn, practise and repeat procedures as often as necessary in order to correct mistakes, develop professional competencies, fine-tune skills and ultimately improve patient outcomes. In addition, the performance of groups of individuals can be compared at the same level. Thus, performance standards can be set. Tasks can also be staged
according to experience level, allowing novices to practise core skills before attempting complex procedures.1 Medical education increasingly emphasises curricula based on cognitive, psychomotor and affective domains of learning.2 The best standards of care, error management and patient safety, patient autonomy, and resource allocation underpin the curricula. In addition, there has been a worldwide shift in the pedagogy of medical education towards experiential (‘hands-on’) medical learning.3 To create such training opportunities, models or manikins simulating ‘almost real’ situations are predominant in schools of the health professions. Many different kinds of models or manikins help students to practise their manual skills; however, these models or manikins are expensive. After a while, they become worn, can even break and are no longer of use for specific requirements,
such as the model arm for venous punctures. At the school of nursing in Berne, Switzerland, we decided to repair damaged manikins to obtain ‘new’ models or manikins for different useful simulations. One of the most common models is the ‘vein arm’ with which students learn to puncture a vein. After hundreds of students had practised their skills of vein puncturing with the ‘vein arm’, it was no longer usable. Even the ‘skin’ of the ‘vein arm’ had been replaced several times. What is to be done with a ‘vein arm’ that can no longer be used as intended? A consultation of our curriculum and the respective competencies inspired us regarding re-use. The curriculum of our Centre of Higher Education of Nursing, Berne, Switzerland, includes changing the dressing of a wound around an external fixator. Therefore, with the support of local hospitals, the worn out ‘vein arm’ was transformed into an arm with an external fixator.
We decided to repair damaged manikins to obtain ‘new’ models or manikins for different useful simulations
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. THE CLINICAL TEACHER 2014; 11: 561–562 561
tct_12201.indd 561
11/13/2014 1:45:14 PM
Innovation is limitless, and a fair amount of imagination and creativity is needed
Innovation is limitless, and a fair amount of imagination and creativity is needed to rebuild new models from old and used ones. Our students help to create new models from old ones together with our faculty staff. They have a lot of fun and there is also a considerable learning effect. REFERENCES
Now our students have the opportunity to practise changing the dressing of external fixator wounds in a safe environment. Similarly, the torso of a broken
manikin was refashioned into a chest tube model, used to demonstrate the principle of a vacuum, thereby allowing students to practise.
1.
Datta R, Upadhyay K, Jaideep C. Simulation and its role in medical education. Medical Journal Armed Forces India 2012;68:167–172.
2.
Zendejas B, Brydges R, Wang AT, Cook DA. Patient outcomes in simulation-based medical education: a systematic review. J Gen Int Med 2013;28:1078–1089.
3.
Satava RM. The revolution in medical education—the role of simulation. J Grad Med Educ 2009;1:172–175.
Corresponding author’s contact details: Claudia Schlegel, Berner Bildungszentrum Pflege, Skillslab, Freiburgstrasse 133, 3008 Bern, Switzerland. E-mail: [email protected]
Funding: None. Conflict of interest: None. Ethical approval: Not required. doi: 10.1111/tct.12201
562 © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. THE CLINICAL TEACHER 2014; 11: 561–562
tct_12201.indd 562
11/13/2014 1:45:16 PM
Copyright of Clinical Teacher is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.
