Simulation role in preparing for COVID-19

Abstract

During the current COVID-19 global pandemic, the major efforts are channeled toward containing and minimizing the spread and maintaining the healthcare providers' safety. One of the major aspects of effective infection control and prevention is healthcare team training and system troubleshooting. Simulation-based education appears to be a practical and flexible instructional design to achieve variable levels of knowledge, skills, and attitude training. In this paper, we aim is to provide a brief scheme on how simulation-based training can be employed in COVID-19 pandemic preparedness efforts. In addition, we will be sharing our multidisciplinary simulation experience in critical care at the National Guard Health Affairs, Saudi Arabia.

COVID-19 Critical Care Simulations: An International Cross-sectional Survey

“…Simulation training is a valuable method for uncovering latent safety threats in healthcare systems [13][14][15]. The use of simulation during the COVID-19 crisis could be bene cial in this regard [7,16].…”

“…During the pandemic, rapid sharing of global experiences could help other healthcare providers and policymakers expedite solutions to rectify commonly encountered errors. This could improve patients' outcomes and improve infection control measures to prevent such errors from occurring in centers where no COVID-19 simulation drills were performed [7]. COVID 19 has been labeled by the WHO as a novel infection that spread quickly across the globe and is associated with high fatality and transmission rates; its unclear characteristics regarding transmission and infection control precautions initially had been alarming and mandated simulation programs of different settings and high preparedness standards in order to face its high spread rate.…”

COVID-19 critical care simulations: An international cross-sectional survey

“…During the pandemic, rapid sharing of global experiences could help other healthcare providers and policymakers expedite solutions to rectify commonly encountered errors. This could improve patients’ outcomes and improve infection control measures to prevent such errors from occurring in centers where no COVID-19 simulation drills were performed [(Aldekhyl and Arabi, 2020)].…”

Need for a systems integration methodology for effective implementation of simulation-based training

“…We read with great interest the article entitled, “Simulation role in preparing for COVID-19” by Aldekhyl and Arabi. [ 1 ] The paper highlights the usefulness of simulation-based training (SBT) as an alternative, feasible, and flexible design for education amid the pandemic. However, while SBT provides an operational framework within educational programs to reduce the risk of transmission, its real-time efficacy can only be established using preparedness testing and comparative analysis with established in-person training programs.…”

“…This may be of notable importance within the context of programs such as the MNGHA's “Right Care, Right Now” infection control initiative described by Aldekhyl and Arabi. [ 1 ] Translating SBT from a “point-of-care” laboratory to a resuscitation setting, for example, may require additional route planning to ensure that equipment does not obstruct the clinical team, the adaptive identification of personal protective equipment donning and doffing areas to choreograph workflow, and elicit real-world biological hazards, such as blood splatter and other infectious risk factors, for unexpected scenarios difficult to replicate in mannequins. We believe that such considerations will prove effective in streamlining SBT and promote an overall systemic effect in enhancing healthcare delivery planning.…”