12 October 2016
The ASSH Simulated Patients Special Interest Group Breakfast was held on Wednesday, 28th September at the Simulation Congress. This event was sponsored by Health Education Australia Limited (HEAL) and was chaired by Beverly Sutton.
The purpose of this was to bring together educators, SPs as well as other delegates who are interested in SP methodology. During the breakfast, the discussions were focused on current research and concerns within the SP methodology community.
Associate Professor Margaret Bearman presented a piece on “A Critical Reflection on SPs and Assessment”. Andree Gamble and Jessica Stoke-Parish also gave an update on their PhD research progress. Gamble’s research focused on working with children as SPs, while Stoke-Parish’s study explores the impact of visual cues such as moulage on authenticity in simulation based learning.
Professor Debra Nestel (who is also the Director of SPN) gave a brief update on what is happening in the SP methodology community; including sharing information about the listserv hosted by the University of Washington and an upcoming book which includes a chapter on managing humanism in the scope of SP methodology practice.
Sutton then gave a brief talk summarising the ASPE International Conference 2016. The session concluded with a discussion on SPs and feedback – how can SPs be more involved in the feedback process?
Some of the suggestions include structured feedback training to SPs involved with assessment, the use of a discreet webcam during the simulation to facilitate the process, giving time before seeking feedback from SPs (getting students to self-reflect first, giving opportunity for the SP to self-reflect at the same time) and to consider that the perspective of educators differs to those of the patients, hence, the SP perspective is valuable.