Rain nor Snow… I made it to HPSN 2011

HPSN was a whirlwind.  I finally arrived in Tampa Tuesday afternoon in time to catch the later half of the Tuesday conference offerings, spend 45 minutes in the sun at the pool, and have Dinner with my good friends from the Netherlands, Joris Broeren and Michiel Schutter and their colleagues.

Tuesday afternoon Shirley Huchins, MSN, RN  gave a great talk titled: Social Learning Strategies for Simulation Learning applications. It was good to see a presentation on nursing education that emphasized the importance of theory as part of the curriculum and research process! The need to include theory in the design process of simulation-based research was one of the consistent themes emphasized at the Society for Simulation in Healthcare’s Pre-Conference Summit focusing on the state of the simulation research in healthcare that took place as part of the International Meeting on Simulation in Healthcare (IMSH) last month in New Orleans.

Joris Broeren, MD

Wednesday morning Joris Broeren, MD , an anesthesiologist from the Netherlands gave a great talk titled: Realism in Simulation – How Much and How to Achieve it.  The amount of fidelity needed to get learners to suspend their disbelief in reality is often debated.  Dr. Broeren discussed the experiences they have had in the Netherlands with their learners.  Dr. Broeren emphasized what many of us have or are coming to understand. Getting students to buy into simulation-based learning scenarios often depends on the scenario objectives and the kind of experience that the faculty are trying to provide.

Later Wednesday Morning, I gave the talk that Katie White, MD and I prepared on Simulation-Based Resuscitation and Team Leadership.  The talk was well received and generated robust discussion on the importance of preparing learners for leadership roles in multi-professional clinical settings.  The importance of planning, theory, and objective identification tailored to the needs of the targeted learner audience was emphasized.

I also wanted to touch on one of the more interesting new products I have seen in simulation in a long time. Christopher Sakezles, PhD was in the exhibition hall on behalf of his company SynDaver Labs showing off their artificial tissue, organs, and life-sized artificial cadavers complete with functional cardio-pulmonary perfusion.

While my stay was short, I did run into some other colleagues who I am sure added value to the conference in any way they participated.  I of course ran into Kim Leighton, PhD, RN of BryanLGH College of Health Sciences and Keith Weeks, PhD, RN from University of Glamorgan. In any case I arrived back to the Clinical Playground, LLC World Headquarters late last night.