Who should attend

This course is designed for anyone interested in using simulation as an educational method, particularly health and social care professionals and those involved in their training and education. It is especially relevant to those supporting immersive simulations that focus on the development of teamwork and professional communication skills.

What you will learn

Learning objectives

• Discuss considerations of educational design in scenario-based learning.
• Describe the concept of immersion to achieve learning.
• Discuss the benefits and limitations of templates in scenario design.
• Describe sources of inspiration for scenarios.
• Discuss strategies for achieving multiple perspectives in scenarios.
• Demonstrate effective scenario design.

Course webinar requirements

There are weekly live sessions throughout the course. Each session takes place in evenings and the dates will be confirmed closer to the course commencement.

Assessment (assessed version of the course only)

• Assessment 1: Develop a scenario (2,500 words) (40%)
• Assessment 2: Reflective writing based on scenario implementation (1,500 words) (30%)
• Assessment 3: Asynchronous online communication (30%)

Program structure

Simulation-based education offers learners the opportunity to develop clinical knowledge and skills in context. By creating immersive scenarios, participants can integrate elements of clinical practice that are often learned in isolation, strengthen teamwork and interprofessional collaboration, and connect sequences of patient care. With thoughtful design, scenario-based learning can also enhance engagement, for example, by incorporating the perspectives of multiple stakeholders such as patients and their carers.

In this course, participants will review a variety of scenario templates, examining their strengths and limitations, and will design scenarios that create rich, immersive learning experiences.

Accelerate your qualification

Eligible participants who complete the assessed version of this short course can receive 6 credit points towards:

• M4008 Graduate Certificate in Clinical Simulation
• M4009 Graduate Certificate in Health Professions Education
• M6039 Master of Clinical Simulation
• M6038 Master of Health Professions Education

Professor Debra Nestel

Professor, School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health

Debra Nestel is Professor of Simulation Education in Healthcare, Monash University, and Professor of Surgical Education, Department of Surgery, University of Melbourne, Australia.

Debra was Founding Editor in Chief, Advances in Simulation (www.advancesinsimulation.com), the journal of the SESAM.

Debra is Editor in Chief, BMJ STEL, the journal of ASPiH.

She is program lead for the Masters of Surgical Education (Department of Surgery, University of Melbourne and Royal Australasian College of Surgeons) and the Graduate Certificate in Clinical Simulation. Debra leads a national program for simulation educators – NHET-Sim (www.nhet-sim.edu.au) and a virtual network in simulated patient methodology (http://www.simulatedpatientnetwork.org/).

Debra has published over 200 peer-reviewed papers in simulation and health professions education, edited books on simulated patient methodology (2015), healthcare simulation (2017), surgical education (late 2017) research methods for healthcare simulation (2019) and is editing a major reference work on clinical education.

Professor Ram Nataraja

Professor, Paediatrics Monash Health

Having obtained a Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT) in paediatric surgical higher training in the London Deanery I worked as a Paediatric Surgical Consultant at both Barts Health, and Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London, United Kingdom. My training was primarily in the London Deanery but also included a fellowship at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, Australia. In 2015, I relocated to Monash Children’s Hospital (MCH) in Melbourne Australia to take up my current position as Director of Surgical Simulation and a Paediatric Surgical Consultant. I obtained my FRACS (Paeds) in 2017 from the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.

I am a Professor in the Department of Paediatrics at Monash University and coordinate paediatric simulation-based educational (SBE) activities at MCH in my role as the Director of Surgical Simulation and the Director of Monash Children’s Simulation (MCS). These are organisations which I founded in 2015 conduct both internal and external SBE and collaborative educational projects with organisations such as the W.H.O. Since forming MCS we have delivered more than 500 educational activities to more than 5000 participants. This includes inter-professional learning and surgical courses targeted towards General Surgery, Paediatric Surgery and Obstetrics & Gynaecology with a novel home-based laparoscopic programme. The medical programme includes courses targeting neonatology, paediatrics, and surgery for both nursing and medical participants. In the COVID-19 Pandemic we have converted most of the portfolio to virtual courses with equivalent feedback to the traditional face-to-face courses. I am also the co-director of multiple postgraduate courses at Monash University leading to the award of the Graduate Certificate of Clinical Simulation.

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