Simulation as a technology for learning and training has been around for a long time in different industries, notably in aviation, healthcare, architecture, and high-hazard industries like nuclear plants and even the military. Medical Simulation provides immersive learning, which is more effective than traditional learning. With guided, real-life experiences, the facts and concepts are best recalled and put into service when they are taught, practiced, and assessed in the context in which they will be used. When a learner is involved in the process, the memorization is deeper. The great Chinese philosopher Confucius said it 2500 years ago, “Tell me, and I will forget. Show me, and I may remember. Involve me, and I will understand.”
Simulation-based training puts emphasis on the outcome more than on the process. When it’s evidence-based, the training provides patient safety and increased knowledge of real-life situations, leading to better patient care and decreased casualties. Nursing is a practice-oriented profession that requires both theoretical and practical knowledge and psychomotor skills. It is important to ensure the integration of theoretical knowledge into practice. Simulations are an excellent way of learning for nurses. Medical manikins simulate multiple anatomical functions, helping nurses practice and gain skills to perform on real human bodies. Manikins also eliminate the need for cadavers for training.
Computerized manikins are used as high-fidelity simulators of human anatomy; they breathe, they have pulses, heartbeats, they display blood pressure and other bodily parameters required for clinical observation, medical procedures can be performed on them, and they give feedback. Nurses and physicians get real-life experience on the plastic bodies before they move on to patients. This interactive form of learning increases the confidence of nurses and doctors in their initial days of handling emergencies, giving them a strong footing in the processes and concepts.
The training conducted on manikins can be administered and tracked for analysis on a learning platform that integrates with the firmware of the manikin. mon’k, a flagship online learning management system of Impelsys, has been used by some of the world’s largest healthcare professional associations as a platform to manage training on manikins. The platform gives a comprehensive analysis of students’ activities on the manikin, tracks their progress and skill proficiency, and provides feedback to individual trainees. The platform also allows the training administrator to certify the students on completion of training.
In digital simulation, real-life scenarios are represented graphically on a screen. It’s a powerful combination of digital technology and simulation with the advantage of being able to represent complex scenarios, like visceral organs. Healthcare professionals can practice various processes and learn the working of complex equipment in a virtual world, eliminating any real risks to human lives. With digital simulation, professionals have the freedom to practice whenever and as often as they want, on the screen of their devices. For learning courses, digital simulation instills a sense of ownership of course completion for the learners; they do it in their own time and space and have the responsibility to learn and complete the tasks that are sanctioned. They are responsible for their own development.
Healthcare professionals require extensive knowledge in their discipline, with critical judgment and precise application of knowledge. A lapse in any of these could have an impact on an individual’s life or health. Healthcare is a dynamic industry with continuously evolving science, practices, and usage of equipment. This necessitates highly effective training and continuous learning for all the stakeholders in the profession, be it nurses, anaesthetists, surgeons, physicians, or technicians. Simulation-based trainings develop practical skills and knowledge required for critical processes and handling of high-tech equipment, it also develops confidence and attitude as it provides a life-like experience which is engraved into a learner’s memory.
