Launched in 2020, SSJC struck a chord in the broad community of simulation enthusiasts across Scotland, and increasingly internationally. SSJC now has over 200 members, with regular contributions from the United Kingdom, the United States, South Africa, and Australia.

Our latest edition explored the IJoHS editorial by Paul Murphy and Debra Nestel entitled "Healthcare simulation terms: promoting critical reflection.”¹ We were delighted to have Paul join us and unpack the proposed limitations of some engrained terminology in simulation vernacular and challenge us to think differently about the evolving nature of language. To join part two of this important conversation, email Nathan.Oliver@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk or Samantha.Smith7@nhs.scot.

References

1. Murphy P, Nestel D. Healthcare simulation terms: promoting critical reflection. International Journal of Healthcare Simulation. Published online 2022. https://www.ijohs.com/article/doi/10.54531/MHGI6358

The keynote speakers are:

• Eve Purdy, emergency medicine physician and applied anthropologist.

• Steven Shorrock, Chartered Psychologist, Chartered Ergonomist, Human Factors Specialist. Steven has a Human Factors blog and co-edited Human Factors and Ergonomics in Practice (CRC Press).

• Karen Szauter, gastroenterologist, University of Texas Medical Faculty, and nearly 20 years as director of the university standardized patient program.

• Sandeep Ganni is Director of Smart Lab, GSL Medical college, India with a Doctorate in simulation based education.

• Dawn Benson and Lauren Morgan: Dawn is a sociologist who specialises in safety investigation within health and social care sectors; Lauren is a Chartered Human Factors practitioner, with experience working across multiple healthcare settings, who has advocated for systems approaches in Human Factors within many healthcare bodies including the General Medical Council and the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch.

Offering a welcome return to face-to-face networking, ASPiH 2022 promises to be the best yet.

Andy Buttery
ASPiH Executive and Conference Committee

The King Fahd Armed Forces Hospital organised the first Medical Education: Transformation & Innovation Conference. Held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the conference attracted delegates from across the Kingdom.

Distinguished speakers included Prof David Cook (Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, US) who spoke on validity arguments for learner assessments and the under-reported but critical role of measuring cost-effectiveness of continuing professional development.

Prof Henk Schmidt (Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands) offered fascinating insights into how students learn and a history of problem-based learning. The latter was framed as an example of an innovation in medical education with seemingly global uptake with Dr Sofana Al Mashhadi (Saudi National Institute of Health, KSA) providing a lens through which we could analyse its implementation.

Dr Mary Collins (RCSI Graduate School of Healthcare Management, Republic of Ireland) spoke on a range of topics related to leadership, touching on resilience and emotional intelligence.

Prof. Dina El-Metwally (University of Maryland School of Medicine, US) shared experiences of pandemic work, reminding delegates of the importance of self-care.

Prof Debra Nestel (IJoHS, Editor in Chief, Monash University & University of Melbourne, Australia) spoke on theories that inform educational practice and on the role of psychological safety in clinical and simulated settings to optimise learning.

Invited speakers offered workshop activities on the topics on which they spoke. The hospital-based simulation centre at King Fahd Armed Forces Hospital is an excellent venue to facilitate the uptake of their simulation faculty development program.

The VR-based simulation places the user in front of a patient showing aggressive behaviours who will respond either positively or negatively depending on what the user says. If a user says something that would be inflammatory, the conversational agent will become increasingly frustrated with corresponding animations. Conversely, saying de-escalatory statements will lower the frustration level.

Findings from the initial research study highlighted limitations in the complexity of the responses the agent was able to provide. The original response system was programmed with predicted responses drawn from the AI algorithm which were hardcoded into the application. To combat these limitations, the team have now implemented a direct link to the AI algorithm being utilised to drive the agent’s conversation, broadening the responses available.

While not without its challenges, such as keeping the conversation on track to meet the educational outcomes, the research team is excited at the potential improvements this innovation could deliver. The team have also expanded the number of available scenarios to increase the versatility of the application. You can also read about this research team’s work published in IJoHS: https://ijohs.com/article/doi/10.54531/DNZC8446.

1. Moore, N., et al., Designing Virtual Reality–Based Conversational Agents to Train Clinicians in Verbal De-escalation Skills: Exploratory Usability Study. JMIR Serious Games, 2022. 10(3): p. e38669.
2. Moore, N., et al. Designing virtual reality experiences to supplement clinician Code Black education. International Journal of Healthcare Simulation. 2022;1(Supplement SRSIS 1):S12-S14.