Feedback from a friend
It is hard to tangibly assess the impact of simulation and in particular what the wider effects of VAST may be. In the midst of the chaos, stress and difficult times that we are all facing, the message I received below from a friend in India was extremely welcome. Thank you for this feedback, its a pleasure to hear that your work is making a difference and that maybe VAST is playing a small part in preparing health care providers to handle this crisis:
Last one month was a testing time for my Organization due to corona on the horizon. The entire hospital began preparedness at all levels. During this time our sim lab went gung ho! We trained all departments with simulation on hand hygiene, donning and doffing of PPE, correct usage of N95 with user seal check, knowledge of aerosol generating procedures, CPR ,airway management and sample swab collection.
We ran COVID simulation scenarios for anaesthesia, ER, ICU, Paediatrics, Neonatal, Obstetrics, Dental, Ophthalmology, Radiology, Radiotherapy, cluster swab management, Endoscopy unit… many more! There was interprofessional participation in every scenario. Doctors, nurses, technicians, residents and house keeping staff.
I used debriefing techniques taught by you. There were challenging debriefs too. The take home messages were very profound! Both at personal level for participants as well as we could help departments formulate a policy to manage COVID patients. System changes in the organisation were made based on the inputs given by sim lab. This has given an amazing robust feel to the systems! The health care professionals are feeling safe and empowered as per their feedback. I am one satisfied and proud simulationist today!
I want to genuinely thank you for sowing the seed of good debriefing in me to achieve all this!
Thank you VAST! ???