2024 Pre-Conference Workshop Abstracts
If you have already registered for the Conference, but would like to add Pre - or Post-Conference Workshops to your registration, please send an email to [email protected].

SATURDAY, JUNE 22

Foundations of SP Methodology Part I: Constructing Your SP Community

The first session of the Foundations series focuses primarily on the actual SPs: how to recruit, then screen, then onboard, then retain them; as well as how to train them. It is intended to give SPEs foundational education in working with SPs at their home institutions.

This workshop is intended to provide novice SP Educators (SPE) the tools to implement a successful SP program, which starts with having an excellent roster of well-trained SPs. More experienced SPEs may benefit as well by gaining a deeper understanding of SP methodology and how it applies to individual practice.

Foundations of SP Methodology will be led by experts from the ASPE Curriculum Development and Advancement Committee (CDAC). Participants explore the methodology that defines the rapidly expanding contribution of SPs to the field of simulation-based education. Content will connect extensively to the ASPE SOBP and aligns with ASPE Modules presented through the Center for SP Methodology, which would be beneficial for attendees to access prior to attending this workshop. The presenters include several published thought leaders in SP Methodology as well as innovators of new approaches in SP Methodology.

Research I: Basics of Scholarship

This Basics of Scholarship workshop is an immersive course providing foundational research skills to support SP educators in transforming their daily work into scholarship.

Building research design into daily work enables SP educators to examine and disseminate the innovative approaches they use routinely. Sharing this research advances the field of SP methodology and education.

Advance at Your Institution: Leadership Development for Human Simulation Professionals 
*PLEASE NOTE, THIS IS AN 8 HOUR WORKSHOP

This first-time offering is also the first-ever immersive workshop designed specifically for Human Simulation Professional leadership development to support participants in advancing at their home institutions. This workshop utilizes the ASPE SOPBs as an ethical—as well as operational—guide for decision-making at programmatic levels. This is critical, because as the field of SP Methodology necessarily advances so must SP Education as a profession.

SP Educators face unique challenges when they advance as leaders within institutions. This is, in part, because they must move from the moment-to-moment work of creating educational activities with SPs to the long-term strategizing and visioning work of ensuring SP programs are mission driven, sustainable, and well resourced. Many SP Educators undertake these positions without formal leadership knowledge or training.

This workshop provides participants foundational support and practice in: advocating for your SP/simulation program within your institution, aligning your SP/simulation program mission with institutional goals/priorities, budgetary decision-making, communicating through conflict, navigating HR issues, designing inclusive workplace practices, and mitigating the burnout that so often comes with the added responsibilities of a leadership role.

This immersive workshop is designed to support: early career SP Educators who aspire to leadership positions within their institution, mid-career professionals transitioning into leadership roles, and seasoned Human Simulation leaders seeking to learn new strategies to sustain themselves in leadership roles that they already hold. This multi-layered approach will foster community connection across generations of SP Educators and catalyze reverse mentoring amongst participants and facilitators. The goal is that each participant leaves the workshop with skills, strategies and connections to further their career and program within their home institution—no matter their career stage.

Facilitators will include the current ASPE President, several ASPE Past Presidents, and other Human Simulation field leaders. Workshop facilitators will share their expertise in relation to content areas noted above, and also coach small groups within the immersive providing individualized mentoring to participants on self-identified leadership areas for growth in addition to practice navigating challenging conversations faced by leaders.

Foundations of SP Methodology Part II: SP Methodology in Action

The second session of Foundations will introduce tools and strategies for building and developing the programming of SP programs. This session begins with case development, aligning with learning objectives and ASPE Standards of Best Practice (SOBP). The session then explores the role of assessment and how to set up programming to meet assessment needs. Finally, this session discusses the role of SP Training for successful programming. This portion of the workshop identifies training methods, training strategies for case portrayal, and training SPs to use assessment tools.

The session is intended to give novice SP Educators (SPEs) foundational education in methods of developing cases, assessing their learners, and ensuring fairness and efficacy. Experienced SPEs may benefit by gaining a deeper understanding of SP methodology and how it applies to individual practice.

Foundations of SP Methodology will be led by experts from the ASPE Curriculum Development and Advancement Committee (CDAC). Participants explore the methodology that defines the rapidly expanding contribution of SPs to the field of simulation-based education. Content will connect extensively to the ASPE SOBP and aligns with ASPE Modules presented through the Center for SP Methodology, which would be beneficial for attendees to access prior to attending this workshop. The presenters include several published thought leaders in SP Methodology as well as innovators of new approaches in SP Methodology.

Research II: Foundations of Quantitative and Qualitative Methods

This workshop supports participants with basic knowledge/skills for quantitative and qualitative research methods. This is critical, as SP Educators must consider scholarly dissemination as part of project design and implementation. The first half of this workshop defines quantitative research principles of reliability and validity, reviews examples of validity evidence, and applies these concepts in the context of SP methodology. As multiple validity frameworks are available, clarification is needed so that SP Educators can be discerning as they develop and evaluate the quality of their assessments. The second half of this workshop explores basic qualitative research principles including crafting research questions, interviewing, focus groups, participant observation, coding, and more. Qualitative methods are most useful for answering open-ended research questions that consider how and why certain phenomenon exist in the world around us. Participants will receive qualitative study examples related to healthcare education as they consider applications to their own simulation work.

SUNDAY, JUNE 23

Foundations of SP Methodology Part III: Building Program Infrastructure

The third and final session of the Foundations series will provide participants the opportunity to develop tools and strategies for managing their SP program on a macro level. This session will cover leadership concepts, strategic management of a SP program, policy and procedure, information and communication management for a SP program, and advances in SP management, including working with diverse groups of people to ensure successful program administration. 

The session is intended to give new program directors or program builders foundational education in leading a human simulation program. All SP Educators (SPEs) may benefit as well by gaining a deeper understanding of SP methodology and how it applies to individual practice.

Foundations of SP Methodology will be led by experts from the ASPE Curriculum Development and Advancement Committee (CDAC). Participants explore the methodology that defines the rapidly expanding contribution of SPs to the field of simulation-based education. Content will connect extensively to the ASPE SOBP₃ and aligns with ASPE Modules presented through the Center for SP Methodology, which would be beneficial for attendees to access prior to attending this workshop. The presenters include several published thought leaders in SP Methodology as well as innovators of new approaches in SP Methodology.

Operationalizing the Healthcare Simulation Standards of Best Practice: Academic and Practice Exemplars

The Healthcare Simulation Standards of Best Practice^TM advance the science of simulation, share best practices, and provide evidence-based guidelines to make simulation learning experiences consistent around the globe. Informed by both interprofessional and international perspectives, the Standards are a living document applicable to simulation in both academic and practice settings and across manikin, Standardized Patient actor, and distance modalities. Since 2011, the Standards have been translated into French, Korean, Japanese, Spanish, Chinese, and Polish, and they underpin simulation professional development and endorsement programs offered worldwide. The Standards are updated every four years  with healthcare librarians and in response to a needs assessment, environmental scan, and comprehensive literature review. An expert advisory panel, representing a diverse range of simulation experts and healthcare organizations, provides evaluation and makes recommendations for enhancing the Standards.

This workshop will provide an overview of the ten Healthcare Simulation Standards of Best Practice^TM and describe opportunities for application in the areas of writing objectives, pre-briefing, facilitation, debriefing, simulation design, and professional integrity. We will highlight exemplars from academic and practice settings who have operationalized the Standards successfully and discuss a stepwise approach to using the Standards to improve simulation quality.

SimGHOSTS Moulage Bootcamp: Adding Immersion and Dimension to Standardized Patient Scenarios

Moulage improves realism in healthcare education, immersing students into simulated situations that can help them develop critical thinking skills and clinical reasoning abilities. This bootcamp will cover the application of moulage to simulate physical appearance, bodily fluids, and injuries commonly presented by patients.  By the end of this workshop attendees will be able to apply the moulage concepts learned into their own standardized patient scenarios; feel comfortable and confident providing common moulage on standardized patients to mimic medical education needs; and take home basic moulage kit used in this workshop.

Leadership Essentials: Communicate Collaboratively to Navigate Challenging Conversations

This first-time offering is specifically designed to provide Human Simulation Professionals with strategies and practice at navigating difficult conversations in the workplace. Just as we support our learners to practice challenging conversations, so must we in order to be credible leaders within our programs and institutions. This is critical, because as the field of SP Methodology necessarily advances so must SP Education as a profession. 

This active workshop is designed to provide participants support and practice in: understanding the five conflict styles, learning strategies to communicate through conflict, and practice communicating through conflict with colleagues. 

This immersive workshop is designed to support: early career SP Educators who aspire to leadership positions within their institution, mid-career professionals transitioning into leadership roles, and seasoned Human Simulation leaders seeking to learn new strategies to sustain themselves in leadership roles that they already hold. This multi-layered approach will foster community connection across generations of SP Educators and catalyze reverse mentoring amongst participants and facilitators. The goal is that each participant leaves the workshop with strategies and connections to further their career and program within their home institution—no matter their career stage.

This Immersive will be led by the current ASPE President, Past Presidents of ASPE, and other leaders within the Human Simulation field. Workshop facilitators will share their expertise in relation to the areas noted above, and also coach small groups within the immersive providing individualized mentoring to participants to support them in navigating challenging conversations in the workplace.

Developing a Standardized Patient Simulation for the Purpose of Teaching and Evaluating Clinical Diagnostic Reasoning

The utilization of standardized patient simulation to teach and assess clinical diagnostic reasoning provides a transformative educational approach that empowers healthcare professionals and students to hone their diagnostic skills within a safe and immersive environment. By engaging in standardised patient scenarios, learners actively apply theoretical knowledge, navigate complex decision-making processes, and receive immediate feedback. Through debriefing sessions, they reflect on their diagnostic strategies, adapt to unpredictable variables, and collaborate interdisciplinarity. This hands-on, repeatable practice cultivates critical thinking, builds confidence, and bridges the gap between theory and practice.

HELP! I Need Somebody! Meaningful Metrics for Growing Your Program

Simulation program leaders often struggle to articulate the need for additional staffing due to a lack of established metrics that calculate productivity capacity. The often-used benchmarking tool that reports the quantity of education hours delivered does not capture the wide range of development and evaluation work that is necessary for any given course or training. Program leaders also have an obligation to articulate resource utilization and needs to a variety of stakeholders. The presenters have worked together with leaders of multiple simulation programs to define, develop and implement a successful process which quantifies staff productivity through data collection, analysis, insight, and effective story-telling. This shared model provides relevant data to accurately provide quantifiable justification for staffing growth.

Participants will be introduced to the staffing capacity analysis tool and have to opportunity to customize it to their staffing in order to quantify and target program capacity most effectively. Discussion of data collection, identification of key metrics, and translation of compelling stories will be included. The shared model of staffing capacity gives programs relevant data to benchmark staffing accurately, providing quantifiable justification for program growth. Participants will also gain access to other simulation programs using similar methodology for further benchmarking collaboration in the industry.

You’ve Done It – Now Write it Up!  Preparing Your Paper for Publication.
*Please note, this workshop allows for a maximum of 8 participants.

Dissemination of scholarly work is an essential activity for both personal professional developments and for the advancement of our profession. ASPE is fortunate to have members from a variety of disciplines who offer different views and expertise related to SP methodology. The conference hosts a rich agenda, but what happens to presentations after the conference? While many are appropriate for further dissemination as manuscripts, only a small portion of the innovative ideas or research projects eventually appear in the published literature.

Many well-known factors interfere with writing including lack of knowledge or confidence in writing skills, the perception that there is no time to write, not making writing a priority, and not being accountable to others to get writing done. This workshop will guide attendees through the writing process with the goal of manuscript development for publication.

Please note: This workshop does not focus on “how to” do a project or study. Attendees should come to the session ready to work on writing up a completed (or near completed) project.

Addressing Policies and Procedures in Your Standardized Patient Program

The roles the standardized patients play are varied and complex. While SP Programs have been embedded in academic and healthcare environments for a number of years, it is apparent, based on the number of queries regarding the safety and protection of the standardized patients who participate in various different activities across the curricula, that a set of guidelines need to be in place to protect this population. To address the concerns many have voiced, it is essential to identify guidelines and specific policies and procedures that are designed to protect our SPs. As SP roles expand, understanding the variety that is included in their roles can help provide documentation of what the policies and procedures are essential. 

Implementing a Professional Development Series to Empower Your SPs

By creating an inclusive and supportive SP program, SPs foster a sense of belonging that increases with their involvement in their program. Based on literature in human resource development, fully engaged employees can lead to higher levels of affective commitment and discretionary effort, and less likely to turnover. Having a cadre of fully engaged SPs is advantageous to SP programs as it leads to improved learner performance and ultimately quality patient care.  
 
This course is aimed at providing educators and administrators with practical tools to implement a professional development workshop series on a variety of topics. Presenters will share workshop materials and activities from their institution aimed at empowering SPs by recognizing the individual strengths and honoring the lived experience of each person on their team. Doing so will add quality to your program and individual growth among your SP cadre.