Rudi Writing a sim isn't easy… but its not impossible either. Completion of the task is fulfilling and worthwhile, particularly as it becomes increasingly important for training. Getting involved in the process was as easy as showing an interest and the subsequently being asked to write one by “The Sim Man’’. |
- Base it on a real case so the flow is easier
- Give yourself time to write it, think of your shifts
- Keep the learning points (and thus the sim) simple. Complex is cool, but painful
This one was meant to be a ‘reg written, boss done’ job. The group entailed 3 regs, The Sim Man and The Sim Lady. The options were either ‘Horrible sim, hard to write’ or ‘Kind sim, easy to write’. In the end we settled on a relatively rare toxicology presentation, but one in which the diagnostic process was relevant to daily practice. The script only took a few days work, but had to revolve around nights and evenings. There were clinical and non-clinical learning objectives, which we tried to highlight in the sim and the subsequent debrief. It was challenging to create a fictitious patient, as the sequence of events had to be meticulously thought out. Complicating the sim whilst fun, would have created too many stems for this ‘choose your own adventure’ and as we were writing for bosses, there was always the question of ‘is this too easy for them’. So we blindfolded the team leader to try and highlight communication skills. The final outcome was well received and managed to ‘get the point across’.
And that’s it. Did I learn anything running it? Yup…shizen-loads. Would I do it again? You betchya!