Abstract:

Background:
Like other health professions, the impact of COVID-19 on education and training for both medical radiation students continues to be significant. While academic learning and assessment has mostly been able to continue using online learning methods, this is not the case for clinical skills training. Technical, professional and interpersonal skills development is usually achieved via placement blocks in clinical departments. These clinical placement opportunities stopped during the COVID-19 pandemic due to clinical workplace pressures and the need to reduce risks for students, staff and patients. Although most placements are now continuing, capacity is generally reduced and when combined with the need for social distancing, clinical skills training remains at risk.

Method:
In response to this, an international team devised an exciting free online conference that aimed to facilitate sharing of experiences of using simulation to augment or partially replace clinical training. The conference adopted a unique split session timing to accommodate delegates from both the America and Australasia and was delivered through Microsoft Teams hosted by The University of Liverpool. Feedback was gathered from delegates via an online anonymous survey tool after the event.

Results and Discussion:
The conference featured a range of over 40 speakers including simulation researchers, academics, students and professional body representatives from around the globe keen to share ideas for how simulation could provide some capacity to teach clinical skills in the absence of clinical placement for the duration of the pandemic restrictions. Over 900 delegates registered for the conference and engaged through live questioning of presenters and panel plenaries.

A range of themes emerged during the conference including use of bespoke online teaching tools, adaptation of existing solutions or use of sophisticated virtual reality software packages. Solutions included use of equine facilities, after-hours clinical equipment, phantoms and video resources. There was a strong theme relating to use of simulation for assessment of clinical skills with several presenters showcasing virtual “objective staged clinical examinations”.

Delegate evaluation of the event was overwhelmingly positive and rated over 90% of sessions as “Valuable” or “Extremely Valuable” Over 95% of respondents expressed a desire to engage in another event and 95% of respondents expressed an interest in future collaboration.

Qualitative feedback from the event triangulated well with the emerging themes and quantitative responses; these demonstrated enthusiasm for both simulation-based education and global collaboration and resource-sharing. This international collegiate approach is likely to be an important aspect of ongoing pedagogical development in simulation-based education throughout the pandemic and beyond.

Keywords:

Simulation, Collaboration, COVID-19, International.