The NHET-Sim program together with Lodden/Malle and Hume region simulation collaborative would like to acknowledge the contribution of the late Dr Adele Callaghan as a key faculty member through The Adele Callaghan Award for Healthcare Simulation . Dr Callaghan passed away at Bendigo Hospice on January 2nd, 2019.

Dr Callaghan was a pioneer in healthcare simulation. She made substantial contributions to the NHET-Sim programme and was instrumental in its uptake in the Lodden/Mallee and Hume regions. In 2020, Dr Callaghan was awarded her PhD from Monash University. The thesis explored the skills junior doctors require for recognising and managing deteriorating patients.

We are pleased to announce that the 2020 recipient of The Adele Callaghan Award for Healthcare Simulation is Estelle Houlihan. Estelle has been working as the Simulation Coordinator at Goulburn Valley Health for the past three years. During this time, she has been involved in the development and implementation of simulation scenarios. She has also worked with the Hume Simulation Alliance and is a committee member of the Victorian Simulation Alliance.

Estelle has just started the Scenario Design for Simulation-based Education course at Monash University, working towards her Graduate Certificate in Clinical Simulation. She says: “I am absolutely honoured to be the recipient of the Dr Adele Callaghan Award for Healthcare Simulation.

Simulation based learning is a wonderful way to develop and enhance the learners’ knowledge. Creating a safe space for nursing and medical staff to practice and learn new skills is very rewarding, particularly observing the participants a-ha moment!

I am honoured to accept this award and move from the clinical apprenticeship mode of clinical simulation into a formalised Graduate Certificate of Clinical Simulation with Monash University.”

Once again, we would like to congratulate Estelle on her achievement. For more details about The Adele Callaghan Award for Healthcare Simulation see here.

This article was originally published in the NHET-Sim Programme News on the 7 July 2020.