Start/Search | Browse by Day | Author Index

Simulation as an adult education technique has been shown to be a powerful tool for the healthcare team Adult education theory written as early as 1916 identifies the importance of methodology to assist with the adult learner.

In the 2005 JACHO released report on perinatal deaths from 1995-2004, communication between team members was cited as one of the leading causes of death to mothers and babies.  Simulation has given us a tool to work on one of our biggest deficits in emergent and routine care of the mother/fetal dyad. Community hospitals are presently feeling significant financial restraints.  The temptation to reduce education at a time of tightening belts has occurred nationally. My community was not only impacted by both the national and global economy in 2008-2009 but by its’ worst natural disaster, a devastating flood.  Therefore, my hospital has like many others, been forced to be very creative in maintaining standards but also tightening its’ belt. 

My community hospital is described as the following:

·        540 bed fully accredited hospital affiliated with Iowa Health System which is ranked among the top 25 integrated health systems. The Women’s and Children’s center is described as the following:
·         37 LDRP’s, 2 OR suites and a recovery room, in and outpatient lactation service area, 22 single room level 2 regional NICU (one of 4 in the nation at the time of it’s opening) 4 bed PICU unit, a 14 bed pediatric unit, and 3 education rooms.
·         Level II Regional/Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) with 350-400 admissions/year
·         Average greater than 2,700  births per year – all the high risk in community
Clinicians responsible for orientation and ongoing education in fetal monitoring, emergent c/s births, perinatal emergencies and neonatal emergencies need simulation to be effective in retention of information in difficult and complex environments. The challenge is the expense of administering a simulation program in the community hospital setting. St. Luke’s has used simulation for all members of the perinatal team for the past four years.  Negotiation and planning of budgets between administration and those responsible for education is vital.  Administration also must have a fundamental belief of the significance of simulation and the investment it provides to staff and maintaining safety as the umbrella that everything else falls under. Champions in all disciplines and specialties must be utilized to assist with development of ongoing drills. 
Educators must continue to use data to support their programming and utilize simulation throughout orientation, competencies and ongoing drills for all team members.  Data kept from simulation evaluations, sentinel events data and anecdotal reports from debriefings of emergent events that staff have experienced can be utilized to support the investment that simulation requires.