Abstract:

Background/Objective:
Simulation technicians are a newer role in the healthcare workforce who develop and customize simulators, run and maintain equipment, and assist with scholarly output. However, most come from healthcare provision backgrounds and underwent retraining, displacing them from their clinical roles and perpetuating existing health provider shortages. An innovative solution that has yet to be explored involves training undergraduate health sciences students to serve as simulation technicians. The overarching objective is to develop a first-of-its-kind simulation technician training program at Ontario Tech University (OTU), Canada. This program, called the Simulation Technologies, Educational Practices, and Safety (STEPS) Minor Program, is positioned within a Bachelor of Health Sciences (BHSc) that will prepare students to enter this new job market. This development process begins with creating a curriculum blueprint for STEPS through which students will learn the foundations of simulation through a combination of didactics and experiential learning opportunities. This will be co-designed through collaboration with stakeholders including university leadership, program directors, instructors, students, as well as industrial and educational partners.

Methods:
The STEPS minor introduces a groundbreaking educational approach, characterized by a student-centric, flexible (micro-learning), and work-based experiential learning and assessment model. It is structured around three core pillars, reflected in its name: Simulation Technologies, Educational Principles, and Safety. These pillars will form the foundation of this innovative curriculum grounded in the infusion approach to curriculum design and competency-based education. An additional layer of novelty is brought to the program through its meticulous, rigorous, scholarly design process with continuous input from stakeholders and end users. This project is methodologically situated within the first three phases of the Adapted Medical Research Council Framework (MRC), thus forming three project phases:
(1) Theory and Evidence Identification to Design STEPS Program Theory;
(2) STEPS Program Modelling; and
(3) Piloting of the STEPS Program.
For phase 1, a realist review and stakeholder interviews were conducted to understand the existing literature around and identify how to successfully develop an infusion approach-based program. During phase 2, qualitative, semi-structured individual interviews with program directors, instructors, and students as well as course map reviews were conducted to develop the initial blueprint for the competency-based curriculum. Finally, the curriculum blueprint, along with supporting structures such as competency tracking and micro-learning, will be evaluated in phase 3.

Conclusion:
The novelty of implementing a program specializing in the expanding healthcare simulation field – which is yet to exist in Canada – will have a massive impact on healthcare education. Building this STEPS program at the undergraduate level will solve the exacerbated HCP workforce and address the growing need for simulation experts by creating a new job opportunity for health science students who will graduate with the required credentials of a simulation technician. In the future, we hope to develop a graduate-level program that this minor directly funnels into, preparing students to sit for the CHSOS® exam offered by the Society for Simulation in Healthcare (SSH).

Keywords:

Healthcare simulation, program development, curriculum design, simulation technician, health professions education, interprofessional education, undergraduate education, multidisciplinary health research.