Southern Health Simulation Centre Manager: Ms Jennifer Hogan
The Southern Health Simulation Centre provides a variety of simulation-based courses to a diverse healthcare population and has a strong international reputation for the quality of its innovative simulation-based training. One of our core strengths is to provide scenario-based learning in highly realistic clinical environments for clinicians to explore and reflect how they perform and communicate in clinical teams. The Centre's main aim is to reduce clinical risk and improve patient safety. Ongoing research, evaluation and improvement are fundamental to our mission. Research at the Southern Health Simulation Centre has focused on both the methods of education delivery and on practical techniques to improve patient safety in the clinical environment. Our educators and researchers maintain clinical roles and keep up-to-date with current evidence and issues in their areas of expertise. This expertise is used to develop education and research questions that are addressed by simulation techniques.
Research achievements for 2011 While only a small amount of research was conducted throughout 2011, the Centre established important collaborative links with internal and external stakeholders to facilitate the development of future research projects. An important achievement for the Simulation Centre in 2011 is that it is now a contributing partner to the Monash Injury Research Institute (MIRI); a collaboration of academic partners that conducts research into diverse areas such as road safety, sports injury and suicide prevention (www.monash.edu.au/miri). In partnership with Monash University and the Centre of Health Innovation, the Southern Health Simulation Centre have revised a simulation-based patient safety curriculum for final year medical students. This education initiative will facilitate an optimal research environment to conduct studies that aim to prepare our future junior medical staff. Centre staff have had a high overseas profile throughout 2011, presenting simulation-based research and education initiatives at various conferences and forums. Of particular note, Dr Stuart Marshall, Head of Research at the Southern Health Simulation Centre, was invited as keynote speaker for the 4th International Clinical Skills Conference in Prato, Italy.
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The Simulation Centre has continued to make strong research links within the local and national communities with representation on the Australian Society for Simulation in Healthcare Executive Board and with research presentations made to Worksafe Victoria and the Australian Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Victorian branch.
Research activities International Medical Graduates and intra-professional telephone communication: Authors: Elizabeth Pryor, Stuart Marshall, Robyn Woodward-Kron, Tim McNamara. This study explored the characteristics of the effects of telephone communication between clinicians. Data were analysed using linguistic tools from clinical telephone communications of International Medical Graduates. Education can now be targeted to be more effective in improving clinical communication which should lead to fewer errors in the clinical environment.