Episode 15: Teaching with Simulation
October 11th, 2013
In this episode, Dr. Ghazwan Altabbaa suggests that medical students and residents are frontline healthcare providers and that not enough has been done to teach them about patient safety. He acknowledges that patient safety is embedded in each of the core competencies established by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. Yet, he says training programs lack adequate quality improvement objectives. At the University of Calgary, Ghazwan uses High Fidelity Human Patient Simulation in the training of medical residents. He believes that High Fidelity Human Patient Simulation is the ultimate teaching modality because it mirrors situations in the real world while also making it possible to highlight and review shared decision making, communication of risk, and diagnostic errors.
After listening to this podcast, listeners will be able to:
1. Understand the inconsistencies in the teaching of patient safety to Canada’s medical students and resident
2. Recognize High Fidelity Human Patient Simulation as an effective teaching modality for medical residents because it addresses patient safety on multiple levels: medical knowledge, crisis resource management, and team dynamic skills
3. Understand that cognitive biases can lead clinicians down the wrong path when it comes to diagnosis. Using simulation, learners can explore those biases and learn from others during the debriefing phase of the learning process
Ghazwan Altabbaa, MD
Ghazwan is an internal medicine specialist, clinical assistant professor, and associate program director with the Department of Medicine at the University of Calgary He received his MD degree in 1990 from Damascus University, certified in internal medicine in 1998, and completed research and clinical fellowships in nephrology at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. He completed a Master’s of Science in Clinical Epidemiology in 2012 at the University of Calgary. Ghazwan’s interests include medical education with an emphasis on high-fidelity simulation wherein he is a certified educator by the Society of Simulation in Healthcare and director of the High-Fidelity Human Patient Simulation Program within the Internal Medicine Residency Training Program. Research areas include diagnostics, clinical decision support, and the use of high-fidelity simulation to enhance patient safety and resident evaluation.
References:
Brennan, T.A., Leape, L.L., Laird, N.M., Hebert, L., Localio, A. R. , Lawthers, A. G., et al. (1991). Incidence of adverse events and negligence in hospitalized patients. Results of the Harvard Medical Practice Study I. New England Journal of Medicine, 324(6), 370-6.
To Err is Human, Building a safer healthcare system, Kohn LT, Corrigan JM, Donaldson MS. National Academy Press, Washington, D.C.
Windish, D.M., Reed, D.A., Boonyasai, R.T., Chakraborti, C., Bass, E.B. (2009). Methodological Rigor of Quality Improvement Curricula for Physician Trainees: A Systematic Review and Recommendations for Change. Acad Med, 84(12), 1677-92.
Okuyama, A., Martowirono, K., Bijnen, B. (2011). Assessing the Patient Safety Competencies of Healthcare Professionals: A Systematic Review. BMJ Quality and Safety, 20 (11), 991-1000.
Croskerry P. (2003). The Importance of Cognitive Errors in Diagnosis and Strategies to Minimize Them. Acad Med, 78(8), 775-80.
Learn more about the CanMEDS Physician Competency Framework: http://www.royalcollege.ca/portal/page/portal/rc/canmedsCertificate Course in Patient Safety and Quality Management, University of Calgary: http://www.patientsafetycourse.ca/