Would you like to have a simulation training programme for stroke management in your stroke centre?
By Barbara Casolla, MD, PhD
On behalf of the ESO Simulation Committee
Twitter: @BarbaraCasolla
Stroke Unit, UR2CA-URRIS Neurology, CHU Pasteur 2, Nice Cote d’Azur University, Nice, France.
The stroke simulation community is growing up across Europe, and ESO is the first Scientific Society establishing an ad hoc Simulation Committee in 2017. Indeed, simulation-based training has become a pillar of medical education, thanks to the learner-centered and multidisciplinary approach, and to its efficacy in developing non-technical skills, such as communication and teamwork. Moreover, the versatility of the simulation trainings allows variegated applications on different steps of the stroke pathways, while being consistent with the local environment, and provides an array of simulation techniques that are likely to be implemented with virtual reality in the next future. According to one of the stakes of simulation training, “Never the first time on a patient”: this principle has been proven complementary to medical education, allowing young physicians to safely learn in a realistic environment. However, delivering simulation trainings needs instructors who master the underlying principles, and time for preparing and setting up the training with a thorough design.
Considering this rigorous approach, the members of the ESO Simulation committee published a consensus paper in 2020, with the aim of implementing stroke simulation trainings according to specific and validated methodology1. Simulation committee has challenging aims, including: i) developing a curriculum for stroke simulation education; ii) spreading awareness on the role and clinical impact of simulation education into stroke community, iii) helping and interconnecting centers that want to start with simulation in stroke, iv) promoting simulation initiatives and activities in stroke care, v) making the simulation education available/accessible for European stroke professionals. Next step would be to actively map European stroke simulation-based training ongoing in Europe to facilitate the spreading of simulation training programs across regions and countries, that are likely to have different local resources. A European survey will be launch by 2022 and we need your help!
We are interested in your opinion as a stroke community member:
Do you know how simulation trainings works? Do you have simulation training programs and/or a simulation center in your hospital/University? Do you think that simulation education can improve the quality and performance of your medical and paramedical team? What theme would you like to develop in your center for a simulation training program on stroke management?
REFERENCE
1Casolla B, Alonso de Leciñana M, Neves R, Pfeilschifter W, Svobodova V, Jung S, Kemmling A, Mikulik R, Santalucia P, Simulation Committee of European Stroke Organisation. Simulation training programs for acute stroke care: Objectives and standards of methodology. Eur Stroke J. 2020 Dec;5(4):328-335. doi: 10.1177/2396987320971105.
Members of the ESO Simulation Committee: Barbara Casolla, (Chair, France) Jatinder Minhas (UK), Lina Palaiodimou (Greece), Simon Jung (Switzerland), Bastian Volbers (Germany), Robert Mikulik (Czech Republic), Raquel Neves (United Arab Emirates), George Wong (Hong Kong), George Wong (Hong Kong).