Tag Archives: Online Simulation

Online learning

Distance and Virtual Simulation Resources

Posted on by Christina Choung
10
Jun

It’s been over two months since many institutions across the world have had to cancel face-to-face education. Let’s take a minute to celebrate the immense amount of work, adaptation and change educators and students alike have had to do in order to continue delivering quality education at a distance!

One of our values here at OMS is collaboration. As we all continue to adapt to the new normal and consider the Fall semester, we’d like to partner, assist and collaborate with faculty in the process of implementing distance and virtual simulation. 

We do this in our everyday work as we chat with you about your needs and learning objectives. We’re also helping by continuing to offer our 60-day free Implementation trial to support distance learning. And we’ve now created a suite of guides, activities and templates to help you implement OMS in the distance learning classroom. 

We’ve been able to create many of these resources thanks to the quick work of the  #FOAMsim community, who have banded together to share their knowledge about the implementation of virtual simulation. Expert authors and communities of practice such as the International Nursing Association of Clinical Simulation and Learning (INACSL), Simulation Canada, Margaret Verkyl, Cynthia Foronda, Jocelyn Ludlow, and more have released a wealth of information related to virtual simulation. A few of our favorites are:

INACSL Micro Webinars 

  • Evidence to Support Virtual Simulation as an Effective Pedagogy During the Pandemic: Research and Policy Implications
  • Prebriefing Guide for Online, Remote and Virtual Simulations
  • Debriefing Virtual Simulation: The Evidence and Recommendations

Simulation Canada Webinars

OMS Blog and Webinar

While we’re all for staying as up-to-date and informed as possible and reviewing primary sources of information, we also recognize that time is a precious resource, so save you time and energy we’ve watched all the webinars and read the relevant research!

With any OMS trial we therefore provide free consultation on best-practice for virtual and distance simulation implementation, blended learning tools and access to our latest evidence-based resources for faculty.

These cover topics such as:

  • Considerations for implementing distance and virtual simulation, including setting expectations, grading (or not), preparatory work, debriefs, and post-scenario activities
  • Walkthrough guides for synchronous and asynchronous distance and virtual simulation activities
  • Self-reflection activities for students
  • …with more to come!

In the meantime, in the spirit of #FOAMsim you can now download one of these resouces “OMS Distance Faculty Resource: Setting Expectations for Learners” below. We’d love to hear your feedback on it!

Download: Setting expectations for learners

For access to all the resources above, please get in contact with us. For updated information please also consider signing up for our monthly newsletter which includes up-to-date research and news from the virtual simulation community. 

Thanks for your time, onwards and upwards! 

Post by Christina Choung, RN, BScN, CHSE – Educational Specialist at Oxford Medical Simulation

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Online learning

Distance learning during COVID-19

Posted on by Oxford Medical Simulation
Online distance medical and nursing simulation
29
Mar

Rapidly implementing online simulation during COVID-19

Faced with the  COVID-19 outbreak organizations all across the world  have cancelled all face to face classes. Exams are being postponed and educators are struggling to quickly transition learning resources online. However, perhaps the most difficult of these challenges is the sudden inability to meet clinical requirements.

We appreciate how hard it is to deliver simulation and clinical education at the best of times, let alone during a crisis. As simulation educators, the team at OMS have experienced the chaos caused by last-minute clinical cancellations and the need to rapidly deliver simulation to fill the gap.

This same phenomenon is now happening on a global scale. In response, OMS immediately offered the OMS Distance Simulation platform free across the US, Canada and the UK as of March 16, 2020.

Why? Well, as one of the OMS educational specialists notes:

“We are sim people, educators and folks who ultimately care about patient lives. This is a chance to train nurses and doctors when they need it most… this is exactly why we got into this in the first place!”

The OMS Distance Simulation Program

The OMS virtual simulation platform runs both in immersive virtual reality (using a VR headset) and as a screen-based simulation  using the learner’s own PC or laptop (no VR equipment required). It is, in fact, one platform delivered in two different ways. 

Scenarios are just as interactive and dynamic whether in VR or on screen. This provides immediate scale and accessibility during social distancing and the ability to switch to fully immersive virtual reality as required. 

OMS has hundreds of cases across medicine and nursing, dynamic scenarios,  fully-automated feedback and debriefing tools, embedded blended learning resources and simple methods of integrating with curriculum requirements. All of this is offered for free, with no ongoing commitment, until the situation improves.

COVID-19 PROGRAM DETAILS MORE DETAILS
Online distance medical and nursing simulation
Online distance medical and nursing simulation

Uptake of OMS Distance during COVID-19

Since May 16, over 50 institutions – with over 17,000 learners between them – have signed up. Many have started utilizing the platform already and many more will start over the coming days. This is being done across all levels of medicine and nursing and for many different use cases:

  • Nursing programs (BSN and NP), unable to deliver clinical placements 
  • Medical programs (DO and MD), fast-tracking their learners for clinical practice 
  • Hospitals, upskilling clinicians moving between departments
  • Health systems, rapidly bringing in new nurses and retraining clinicians returning to practice

Implementing and integrating online simulation

Organizations are using OMS Distance in many different ways. Many are providing it to learners at home. This may be either for just-in-time simulation for those returning to practice, or in schools and colleges by allocating learners to specific scenarios at different times to align with curriculum requirements. Educators can then asynchronously debrief over a video conference, using the automated performance feedback and the learner’s case reflection as a springboard for debriefing.

Others are using OMS Distance for group learning – having learners go through the same scenario at the same time, then group debriefing and case teaching over a video conference. This allows for more team discussion of cases, and the ability to review labs, imaging and EKGs as a class.  

Others are limiting what they expect the learners to do in a scenario – asking them to only perform the history and physical exam from the clinical scenarios, using this as a clinical experience structured with more junior learners  in mind. 

Ultimately, there is no ‘correct’ way of using the OMS system, which makes the platform versatile enough to fit around any program’s goals. 

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Here to help

OMS works with institutions to help them solve their problems and fulfil their goals – whatever they may be – by providing clinical experiences on demand. Ultimately, we are here to help.

Our educational specialists and support team are working around the clock to provide educators with all the assistance you need through this time – if you think we may be able to help please get in touch.

The scale of the task for healthcare and healthcare education is enormous, and it is an honor to be able to support clinicians and educators through this time of uncertainty.

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If you are in the USA, Canada or the UK and an affected educational institution complete the details below and we will get back to you as soon as possible.