“Threats to psychological safety can undermine reflective learning conversations and may inhibit transfer of key lessons from simulated cases to the general patient care context.  Therefore, effective debriefings require high degrees of psychological safety - the perception that it is safe to take interpersonal risks and that one will not be embarrassed, rejected or otherwise punished for speaking their mind, not knowing or asking questions.”

Kolbe, Michaela, et al. “Managing Psychological Safety in Debriefings: a Dynamic Balancing Act.” BMJ Simulation and Technology Enhanced Learning, vol. 6, no. 3, 2019, pp. 164–171.

Welcome Message

Speaking on behalf of the members of our scientific committee, it’s my pleasure to welcome you back to Weill Cornell Medicine – Qatar’s, 4th Annual Symposium Optimizing Health Professions Education with Simulation-Based Learning. 

We began our series of annual symposia in 2017, where Dr. Janice Palaganas offered us insights into ways in which simulation-based education provided an excellent platform for interprofessional education and collaborative practice. In 2018, Dr. Ralf Krage eloquently delved into the concept of life-long learning and how simulation-based learning offers such an opportunity for all healthcare trainees and service providers to remain life long learners who can improve the delivery of safer patient care. In 2019, Professor Debra Nestel highlighted to us the best practices in skills based learning, and we learnt from Dr. Nestel and our two Doha based simulation scholars; Dr. Guillaume Allinier and Dr. Kim Leighton, how to advocate for simulation-based education at our institutions, and how to build our own career trajectories, through networking and collaborative practice.

Since our last meeting, everyone of us has witnessed unprecedented times, with the COVID-19 pandemic impacting our lives as educators, practitioners and as individuals. We have witnessed many distressing moments, as our healthcare providers have worked tirelessly to offer their best care to victims of this pandemic. We have read about how health professionals have endured lack of PPE, distressingly low morale, and the frequent and damaging threats posed to their psychological safety.

This reality has prompted us to ensure that we do not miss out on our annual gathering, and therefore we will be offering it as a half-day virtual symposium instead. We are bravely facing the two themes which are dear to our hearts as educators and practitioners; namely psychological safety in health care education and in simulation based debriefings, and ofcourse the impact that COVID has had on us as educators, and on our learners. Leading this symposium is Dr. Michalea Kolbe, who is an authority on psychological safety in debriefing.

Networking with regional colleagues is another positive spin of this virtual symposium. We are delighted to welcome simulation scholars from Lebanon (Dr. Rana Sharara-Chami and Dr. Vanda Abi Raad), Oman (Dr. Mahmood Al Jufaili), KSA (Dr. Hani Lababidi) and Turkey (Dr. Melih Elcin). Our panelists will discuss how each country has weathered the adversities of the pandemic, and what lessons they have learnt in this process.

I really look forward to welcoming you all to our 4^th symposium on September 26th, 2020.

Dr. Stella Major, MBBS, FRCGP, CHSE

Associate Professor Family Medicine in Clinical Medicine
Scientific Committee Chair & Symposium Course Director
Director of the Clinical Skills and Simulation Lab
Weill Cornell Medicine - Qatar

About the Symposium 

The symposium aims to maximize the benefits of the educational modality through the adoption of guidelines and best practices from experts in the field. Expert facilitators from the multi-institutional Qatar Simulation Consortium were consulted to identify and steer the programming to meet the needs of the Qatar healthcare community in regards to evidence-based methods in simulation-based medical education. The symposium will provide a platform for identifying strengths and challenges and allow for participants to explore opportunities to address barriers through collaborative discussions and networking gatherings.

Key topics to be covered in the symposium:

1. As a simulation educator, recognize threats to psychological safety and actions which contribute to restoring psychological safety.
2. Ways in which simulaton-based education has been impacted by COVID-19 regionally. 
3. Perspectives from health professions students on effective and ineffective dinstance-based education. 

Overall Objectives

At the end of this activity, participants will:

1. Describe best practices in simulation-based education for healthcare professionals.
2. Illustrate new strategies for increasing effectiveness of simulation-based education for healthcare professionals within your institution.
3. Identify tools and processes to ensure effective simulation-based education for healthcare professionals.
4. Identify opportunities for collaboration in simulation-based education for healthcare professions.