Key hirings bring Coastal Simulation Centre two steps closer to reality
Simulation has long been recognized as a key learning tool in high-risk professions, such as airline pilots. While using simulation for health care professionals would seem a natural fit, the challenge has always been making simulations realistic and meaningful without “real” patients.
Fast forward to today when high-fidelity manikins in simulation centres can be made to talk, cough, sweat, etc, and are connected to real monitors providing responses to clinical interventions. This can be used to create the often-stressful context that “simulates” reality for care professionals and teams in a risk-free environment.
A $1.5M commitment by the Lions Gate Hospital Foundation – including a very generous $500K contribution from the Huscroft family – is making this high-tech SIM Centre a reality for Coastal. The Coastal SIM Centre will be located in the new HOpe Faculty of Medicine space, and the equipment will go “on the road” to support all of the Coastal communities.
“We were drawn to this project because we have backgrounds in technology and education,” say Foundation donors Kevin and Patricia Huscroft. “We’re aware of how effective simulation is in the fields of engineering and aviation and we appreciate how training using simulation can prepare teams of medical professionals to deal effectively with all sorts of medical emergencies, before they actually encounter these emergencies with real patients, when lives are at stake.”
“We strongly support using a SIM centre to give Coastal staff access to state of the art training technology and enable excellence in their practice.”
While top-notch equipment is important to the success of a SIM Program, even more important is the leadership guiding the program. Fortunately, the Coastal SIM Program will be headed by two extremely qualified people:
Physician Lead: Dr. Shannon Chestnut – Dr. Chestnut brings a great deal of simulation experience with her to this role, having participated in and taught simulation at several facilities. Shannon is very familiar with Coastal staff, as a full-time Emergency Physician at LGH for many years.
Nursing Education Lead: Karen Schafer – Karen, the New Clinical Education Lead, comes from Children’s and Women’s Hospital, where she led their SIM program from concept to becoming a very well established, busy simulation centre for the two hospitals, as well as being a provincial resource. In her role, Karen, will focus her first year on the development of the Coastal Simulation Centre, with the vision and responsibility of developing a regional simulation education strategy across Vancouver Coastal Health for clinicians.
Shannon and Karen will be working with various clinical groups over the next many weeks, to understand the various needs and interests in simulation – and then designing a Centre with these needs in mind. If you or your team would like more information, please contact Karen Schafer at Karen.Schafer@vch.ca Watch for more information about the Coastal SIM Centre as we get closer to its official opening.
