"HELP! Please - I need HELP!"
An urgent plea for help sounds from the student commons lobby in the University of Alberta's Edmonton Clinic Health Academy. Four health science students chatting in a nearby hallway look at one another, drop what they're doing and run.
"I'm so glad you're here." A man in a baseball cap paces around a coffee table, wringing his hands, looking anxiously at the ground a few feet away from him.
"This guy . . he was just eating a bagel and then he collapsed! Now he won't get up. Is he dead? Can you help?"
A man is sprawled on the ground; his stomach's contents lie next to him.
Medical students Mandy Cheung and Simran Jassar, speech-language pathology student Jennifer Fung and emergency medical responder student Kelsey McCormack immediately being working together to revive the man.
They roll him onto his back while carefully cradling his head.
"I don't hear any breathing. Can you check the pulse," says McCormack.
"No pulse," replies Jassar.
McCormack begins chest compressions.
"Call 911," Cheung directs the bystander.
But assistance won't come soon. It will be 15 minutes before an ambulance arrives. The women continue chest compressions. They locate an AED (automated external defibrillator) and shock the patient once. Moments later, the ambulance technician arrives.
"And - let's stop the simulation," says the baseball-capped bystander. He's Norbert Werner, Associate Chair of Clinical Simulation at the Northern Alberta Institute for Technology.
The women visibly relax, standing up and walking away from the "patient" who is, in fact, a life-sized medical mannequin. The emergency was not real; it was a simulation to help teach the importance of good communication, and the four students will now sit down and reflect on what they did right and what they can improve on during emergencies.
It was just one of 23 different interprofessional health team simulations set up for an entire day of health care communication and team learning at the HELP! Save Stan Saturday event at the University of Alberta on Saturday, February 4, 2012.
The event hosted over 275 students, from 24 different health science disciplines, from the University of Alberta, MacEwan University, NorQuest College, the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology.
"The Save Stan event is an opportunity for experiential learning," explains Sharla King, director of the Health Sciences Council's Health Sciences Education and Research Commons (HSERC). "Students experience a realistic, contextual health care situation in a no-risk setting. It's a safe place to make mistakes and learn how to work and communicate in an interdisciplinary team before practicing in real-life."
The event, hosted as part of the Interdisciplinary Health Education Partnership (IHEP) project, is now in its second year. IHEP is a joint initiative between the University of Alberta, NorQuest College, MacEwan University, NAIT, and Alberta Health Services.
"Last year MacEwan University hosted the inaugural HELP! Save Stan Saturday and it was extremely successful. This year we're in the Health Sciences Council's HSERC space and the event's grown in leaps and bounds; we have about double the students, simulations and facilitators," says King. "It's a unique opportunity for students to interact and practice with many of the disciplines they will encounter in a real health care setting."
Examples of simulations included a five-patient emergency room "ER mash-up", encountering a suicidal person, delivering a baby and conducting patient interviews as a team. To create a realistic experience, simulations used trained medical actors, called Standardized Patients, virtual world "Second Life" simulations and high-fidelity mannequins with the ability to "talk", "breathe", and even "die".
"This simulation event has been an amazing experience," says McCormack. "The most important thing I took away is that effective communication and teamwork has a direct effect on patients care."
HELP Save Stan Saturday is funded though the Access to the Future Innovation Fund from Advanced Education and Technology. This innovative learning experience will be back early next year, offering health science students another exciting day of team-based learning.
About the Health Sciences Education and Research Commons (HSERC)
Providing care to increasingly complex patients within an evolving health system requires a new approach to health science education. HSERC is committed to equipping the next generation of health workforce with the skills to provide such care. HSERC is a shared resource among eight faculties with two essential parts. First, HSERC is the home of the interprofessional curriculum with a focus on supporting the development and evaluation of team-based learning experiences for all health science faculties. Second, HSERC has a suite of simulation learning environments and simulation services (e.g. Standardized Patient Program) to support curriculum development/delivery and education research.
An urgent plea for help sounds from the student commons lobby in the University of Alberta's Edmonton Clinic Health Academy. Four health science students chatting in a nearby hallway look at one another, drop what they're doing and run.
"I'm so glad you're here." A man in a baseball cap paces around a coffee table, wringing his hands, looking anxiously at the ground a few feet away from him.
"This guy . . he was just eating a bagel and then he collapsed! Now he won't get up. Is he dead? Can you help?"
A man is sprawled on the ground; his stomach's contents lie next to him.
Medical students Mandy Cheung and Simran Jassar, speech-language pathology student Jennifer Fung and emergency medical responder student Kelsey McCormack immediately being working together to revive the man.
They roll him onto his back while carefully cradling his head.
"I don't hear any breathing. Can you check the pulse," says McCormack.
"No pulse," replies Jassar.
McCormack begins chest compressions.
"Call 911," Cheung directs the bystander.
But assistance won't come soon. It will be 15 minutes before an ambulance arrives. The women continue chest compressions. They locate an AED (automated external defibrillator) and shock the patient once. Moments later, the ambulance technician arrives.
"And - let's stop the simulation," says the baseball-capped bystander. He's Norbert Werner, Associate Chair of Clinical Simulation at the Northern Alberta Institute for Technology.
The women visibly relax, standing up and walking away from the "patient" who is, in fact, a life-sized medical mannequin. The emergency was not real; it was a simulation to help teach the importance of good communication, and the four students will now sit down and reflect on what they did right and what they can improve on during emergencies.
It was just one of 23 different interprofessional health team simulations set up for an entire day of health care communication and team learning at the HELP! Save Stan Saturday event at the University of Alberta on Saturday, February 4, 2012.
The event hosted over 275 students, from 24 different health science disciplines, from the University of Alberta, MacEwan University, NorQuest College, the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology.
"The Save Stan event is an opportunity for experiential learning," explains Sharla King, director of the Health Sciences Council's Health Sciences Education and Research Commons (HSERC). "Students experience a realistic, contextual health care situation in a no-risk setting. It's a safe place to make mistakes and learn how to work and communicate in an interdisciplinary team before practicing in real-life."
The event, hosted as part of the Interdisciplinary Health Education Partnership (IHEP) project, is now in its second year. IHEP is a joint initiative between the University of Alberta, NorQuest College, MacEwan University, NAIT, and Alberta Health Services.
"Last year MacEwan University hosted the inaugural HELP! Save Stan Saturday and it was extremely successful. This year we're in the Health Sciences Council's HSERC space and the event's grown in leaps and bounds; we have about double the students, simulations and facilitators," says King. "It's a unique opportunity for students to interact and practice with many of the disciplines they will encounter in a real health care setting."
Examples of simulations included a five-patient emergency room "ER mash-up", encountering a suicidal person, delivering a baby and conducting patient interviews as a team. To create a realistic experience, simulations used trained medical actors, called Standardized Patients, virtual world "Second Life" simulations and high-fidelity mannequins with the ability to "talk", "breathe", and even "die".
"This simulation event has been an amazing experience," says McCormack. "The most important thing I took away is that effective communication and teamwork has a direct effect on patients care."
HELP Save Stan Saturday is funded though the Access to the Future Innovation Fund from Advanced Education and Technology. This innovative learning experience will be back early next year, offering health science students another exciting day of team-based learning.
About the Health Sciences Education and Research Commons (HSERC)
Providing care to increasingly complex patients within an evolving health system requires a new approach to health science education. HSERC is committed to equipping the next generation of health workforce with the skills to provide such care. HSERC is a shared resource among eight faculties with two essential parts. First, HSERC is the home of the interprofessional curriculum with a focus on supporting the development and evaluation of team-based learning experiences for all health science faculties. Second, HSERC has a suite of simulation learning environments and simulation services (e.g. Standardized Patient Program) to support curriculum development/delivery and education research.