Joint ASPE Affiliate Projects

Growing the relationships established with our partners in simulation is a priority for ASPE leadership. Several new initiatives with affiliate organizations have resulted from this continued relationship building.  ASPE renewed our formal affiliation agreement with SSH in January of 2019 and the INACSL agreement will be renewed in June 2019.

Regional Simulation Workshops

Society for Simulation in Healthcare, Association of Standardized Patient Educators and the International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation in Learning, have agreed to pursue joint Regional Simulation Workshops to share simulation methodology with members residing in smaller cities in the US and Canada. https://www.aspeducators.org/regional-simulation-workshops

Although INACSL and SSH have offered these regional workshops for several years, this is ASPE’s first year to join the collaboration. Past SSH President, and longtime ASPE member, Dr. Joe Lopreiato and INACSL President Dr. Bette Mariani provided instrumental support of this project.

These one-day simulation workshops occur three to four times a year and reach those in regions that may not have access to simulation education or lack travel funding to larger conferences. The affordable cost has been a strong attraction for local participants.  ASPE Member Liaison, Dr. Steven Charles and past Conference Committee Chair Dr. Cathy Smith are leading this initiative.

The first 2019 joint Regional Simulation Workshop was well received in Minneapolis, Minnesota this April. Alongside SSH and INACSL content presentations, ASPE’s Past President Dr. Karen Lewis spoke about how to apply ASPE’s Standards of Best Practice. https://www.aspeducators.org/standards-of-best-practice-

A similar talk with be given, in Cleveland, by Standards of Best Practice (SOBP) Committee Chair, Dr. Holly Gerzina in May 2019.  

Women in Leadership

The second annual Women in Leadership initiative, sponsored this year by SSH, INACSL, and ASPE, received glowing evaluations from over 45 participants. Most attendees came from the region but many traveled from other states, such as Idaho, Colorado and Washington DC and as far away as Canada. https://www.aspeducators.org/2019-women-in-leadership. Many current ASPE members attended.

The organization committee, led by past SSH President, Dr. Christine Park, is comprised of leaders and administrators from all three associations. After the success of the 2018 conference in New York, the organizational committee has become even more passionate about continuing to provide an open and safe forum for discussion and practice of leadership skills for those in simulation, and particularly, the needs of women in this field.  Past ASPE President, Grace Gephardt, brought a team of highly skilled SP’s from the Pulse Center in Arkansas to help conference participants role-play difficult conversations using the concept of Radical Candor https://www.radicalcandor.com/about-radical-candor/.

The event could not have happened if not for our host Dr. Will Daniel, his office of quality and the High-Reliability Team, in cooperation with the University of Texas Southwestern Simulation Center in Dallas Texas.https://profiles.utsouthwestern.edu/profile/173183/william-daniel.html

The agenda for the day focused on areas of leadership that had been identified at the New York conference, particularly situations that can present challenges to women. Many of the evaluation comments focused on the effectiveness and power of the SP role-play encounters. Comments about the role-play portion of the conference were overwhelmingly positive, and include:

“This helped me to understand how the materials presented in didactic worked in real life. The SPS were GREAT!!!! “

“Scenarios were excellent.  SPs were well prepared and effectively portrayed their roles.  Also thought the conference faculty member was a very strong facilitator”.

“The Simulation Breakout sessions provided excellent scenarios on potential situations and it allowed us to dissect the approach and response”.

Major General, Kim Siniscalchi, gave an inspirational talk about her work as a leader in changing the protocols in our nation’s air force trauma care, and her time serving in the White House during two Presidential terms.   

Dr. Jen Arnold was pulled away for a family emergency and was greatly missed. The time reserved for her talk was filled with an exercise that focused on the need to be able to receive feedback from others. 

 The exercises encouraged participants to laugh,
 bond with each other and practice essential skills   related to receiving feedback from others.