By: Janice Radway, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

I had the pleasure of attending the International Meeting on Simulation in Healthcare in January in Orlando. One of the highlights was attending the Lou Oberndorf Lecture on Innovation in Healthcare Simulation, featuring Ryan Leak. Leak is an executive coach, best-selling author, and motivational speaker. He spoke about Chasing Failure (the name of his book and humorous documentary about his attempt to qualify for the Phoenix Suns NBA team.) His message was to embrace failure, because we learn from our mistakes, and it brings us closer to our goals. We hold ourselves back when we fear failure, but failure is how we move forward. He made the audience of 4,000 attendees laugh and inspired us to chase some failure of our own.

By: Lance Baily | Submitted by: Darrell Brock, University of Pittsburgh

Medical Simulation is being practiced to train the next wave of crews in space! 

ASPE Scholar Certificate

The awards ceremony started with the ASPE Scholars Certificate presented by Jacqueline R. Klevan
ASPE Scholars complete the required Basic of Scholarship session, as well as requirements in qualitative and/or quantitative measurement and electives, either from the ASPE conference itself or relevant, comparable content from other conferences.

Lead author: Angelina Fluet | Submitted by: Erin Walsh, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science 

To gather Standardized Patients perspectives on bias the authors designed a qualitative interview study and conducted semi-structured interviews with 16 SPs. The interviews were conducted from July to September of 2020. It was concluded that bias occurs in multiple directions including SP-to student. student-to SP, student-to character, and SP- to -character. Additionally, SPs shared they feel there is bias during scenario development and SP recruitment and training. The authors determined that identifying areas where bias occurs can help simulationists alleviate bias. 

“I Have Actually not Lost any Adolescent Since I Started Engaging Them one on one:” Training Satisfaction and Subsequent Practice among Health Providers Participating in a Standardized Patient Actor Training to Improve Adolescent Engagement in HIV Care

Lead Author: Hellen M. Okinyi, BSN
Submitted by: Amy E. Lorion, National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners

By: Timothy Rogers, MD et al | Submitted by: Marsha Harman, Rush Center for Clinical Skills and Simulation

Experiential learning through active participation is thought to be a key benefit of simulation-based education. Recent research has challenged this assumption, suggesting that active participants learn just as well as observers. Studies report that active participants experience stress and anxiety during simulation, which may hamper learning by active participants. We undertook the current study to examine whether active participation results in different emotional arousal than observing during simulation.

Author: Mary Launder, Rosalind Franklin University

I was fortunate to be able to attend the 2022 ASPE Conference “Celebrating Our History, Imagining Our Future”.  What an extremely special conference this past year, we were back in person!!! Looking back there was a wealth of remarkable contributions given to the ASPE community. One way this depth of extraordinary work is highlighted is through the annual awards presented to those outstanding members who serve the ASPE community. Eligible ASPE members are nominated by colleagues and coworkers and the nomination committees hold a standard, fair, and inclusive process. This 2022 awards ceremony was held in person in New Orleans on June 29th, 11:00 AM CST.

By: Ignacio del Moral, PhD, MD
Submitted by: Darrell Brock, University of Pittsburgh

Dr. Ignacio’s reflections on how a life-death encounter with a patient and a chance pamphlet lead him on a journey to the heart of simulation education. In a very relatable way, the doctor stumbles upon simulation education and comes to love it. Over time, Dr.Ignacio would become one of Spain’s most notable figures in simulation education. 

By: Kerensa Peterson, University of California, Riverside School of Medicine

Tan Le is an internationally recognized innovator and entrepreneur. She gave the final keynote speech at IMSH this past January. While gaining recognition for her pioneering work in the emerging field of brain-computer interface, she is also known for her work as a social activist and public speaker. At the IMSH Conference, Tan Le focused on the bravery of her family and how her life experiences as an immigrant shaped her into the person she has become. Her story was inspiring and I was eager to learn more about her and her work after seeing her speak.

USML/ Mundelein Cor Luxta Meum Project: Introduction to Simulation Pedagogy
By: Mundelein Seminary
Submitted by: Darrell Brock, University of Pittsburgh

Faculty and students tell an interesting story of how SP methodology is making an impact in theology training at a seminary.

Implementing Standardized Patient Caregivers to Practice Difficult Conversations in a Pediatric Dentistry Course
By: Beau D. Meyer, DDS, MPH
Submitted by: Marsha Harman, Rush Center for Clinical Skills and Simulation

The objective of this educational activity was to describe the implementation of three SPs in a pediatric dentistry course for second-year dental students. The authors developed three SP encounters covering interactions with caregivers of an infant with severe early childhood caries, an adolescent on the path to gender affirmation, and a child with autism and dental caries whose caregiver was resistant to fluoride- and silver-containing dental materials. The article describes the case design process, rubric construction and calibration, student debriefing, and pandemic modifications. The effectiveness of the implementation was evaluated by thematic analysis of student reflections following each encounter using a qualitative descriptive framework. Qualitative analysis showed that students preferred a more realistic encounter by having a child or other distraction present. Students relied on different elements of motivational interviewing depending on the objective of each encounter and the age of the patient. Overall, the SP encounters were well received by students and faculty as an alternative or supplement to traditional student evaluation methods. A number of lessons learned about implementing SP methodology in pediatric dental education were noted. With these experiences now in place, future evaluations should measure student performance in the SP encounters against student performance during clinical care.

Saudi Health Simulation Conference Celebrates 5^th Year with Entire Week of Events
By: Lance Baily
Submitted by: Darrell Brock, University of Pittsburgh

Riyadh hosts its 5^th annual Health Simulation Conference where it focused on the optimization of healthcare simulation, the safety of patients, facility management, development and innovation, and finally the future of healthcare. Check it out.

Comparison of Resident Self-Evaluation to Standardized Patient Evaluators in a Multi-Institutional Objective Structured Clinical Examination
Lead Author: Benjamin John Diaczok, MD
Submitted by: Nicholas Gonzalez, Gordon Center for Simulation and Innovation in Medical Education, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine

The Objective Structured Clinical Examination, or OSCE, has stood the test of time and cemented its use in medical simulation and education. With each institution that applies the use of OSCEs, there comes evaluations, and those who evaluate. This article seeks to shine a light on self-evaluation among residents and if Standardized Patients (SPs) evaluate said residents at a similar level of accuracy. This interrater reliability allows one to view how capable residents are of self-evaluating after taking part in a series of challenging OSCEs, and if they rate their performances higher, lower, or equal to that of SPs’ evaluations.

Interprofessional Communication in Medical Simulation: Findings from a Scoping Review and Implications for Academic Medicine
Lead Author: Sadie Trammell Velásquez
Submitted by: Janice Radway, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

Interprofessional communication is an integral part of healthcare. It can be taught in medical school and other health professional schools through interprofessional education (IPE) activities. In this scoping review conducted on simulation-based IPE, the authors describe the characteristics of published simulation IPE activities involving undergraduate medical students in a simulation center. To strengthen IPE simulation, the authors recommend that medical educators deliberately incorporate (1) hybrid instructional methods to bypass logistic hurdles, (2) longitudinal approaches to achieve higher-level learning outcomes, and (3) assessment tools with established validity evidence (IPEC) to measure those outcomes.

Inclusion Targets: What’s Legal?
By: ACLU Southern California
Submitted by: Dan Brown, Emory University

Navigating the law when it comes to hiring SPs is challenging. Many sources recommend against asking about demographics to prevent discrimination lawsuits. But how do we improve diversity in our hiring efforts without asking these questions?

Actors Help Medical Students Learn the Less Technical Side of Medicine: How Actors Are Teaching Medical Students Compassion and Understanding for their Patients
By: Paul Jablow
Submitted by: Amy Lorion, NBOME

The Philadelphia Inquirer recently published an article describing the use of standardized patients by local medical schools. This isn’t overly unusual in itself—newspapers occasionally run such articles—but what struck me was the article’s emphasis on the ability of SPs to make a genuine difference in the lives and professional work of medical students, particularly in sensitive areas such as race and gender. The author, Paul Jablow, centers SPs in the article, showing them as educators in themselves, not just a tool used by medical schools. As Jablow writes, “While veteran doctors teach them how to repair broken bones and suture wounds, standardized patients teach medical students how to care for people with compassion and understanding.” Although the article is behind a paywall, those with access may find the article a refreshing read with its highlights of SPs making a real difference, often in their own words. And this starts from the beginning of the article, with an anecdote about an SP whose ER doctor recognized him from when she was a medical student 10 years prior: “She thanked me for teaching her to become more sensitive.” 

By: Temple D. West, MMHPE
Submitted by: Marsha Harman, Rush Center for Clinical Skills and Simulation

Standardized patients (SPs) play a pivotal role in medical education. They are proxies for real patients, preparing students to meet the challenges of excellent patient care. Human simulation, with SPs, is used for teaching and assessing communication and clinical skills in medical education around the world. Standardized patients work individually with other faculty, students, or in conjunction with medical faculty to facilitate learning with feedback. In most simulation centers, SPs receive extensive training in communication and clinical skills, yet they inhabit territory often unrecognized as professional in medical education. The manner in which SPs are seen and treated by faculty and students may be a reflection of how real patients are seen and treated—not always heard, not always respected—and this tension detracts from both simulated and real patient encounters. Exploring how SPs, as proxies for real patients, are treated in medical education is a key to what we might learn and how we might close gaps in cultural respect and, ultimately, in patient care.

At the Communications and Connections Committee’s invited presentation, How Do I Communicate and Connect with ASPE? The CommConn Committee Tells You How, committee member Dan Brown sat down with five volunteers to interview them about their conference experience. Here are their answers!

When was your first ASPE conference?

Lead author: Laura Weingartner, PhD, MS
Submitted by: Renee Wadsworth, SP-ed

Transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) people experience extreme health disparities and prejudice in health care settings. The lack of provider training around gender-affirming care for TGD patients has historically contributed to this inadequate care. Patient simulation is a crucial component of teaching medical students about gender-affirming care because it allows students to practice and become more comfortable with these skills in a low-stakes setting.

By: Sandra Jaramillo-Rincón, MD, MHPE, Juan Manuel Potes, MD
Submitted by: Nicholas Gonzalez, The Gordon Center at University of Miami Miller School of Medicine

Standardized patients (SPs) range from individuals looking for additional work to full blown actors and actresses, to somewhere in the middle. This article entails what advantages SPs have and what skills they bring to the table regarding the teaching/learning process. The authors go into detail discussing the training and further development of acting, thematic, pedagogic, and planning and leadership skills among their SPs.