SP Methodology Reimagined: Human Simulation Online

Clark, Lou; Woll, Anne; Miller, Joseph M.

On March 11, 2020, the Coronavirus also known as COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic. Citizens of countries around the world were directed to shelter-in-place as increasing numbers of people became infected and have died including frontline healthcare workers. At the time of the writing of this chapter nearly 180,000 Americans and more than 800,000 people worldwide have died. During this time employees who were fortunate to be able to work remotely were directed to do so from home, including many simulation professionals working for academic institutions. Most face-to-face educational activities stopped and SP Educators (SPEs) across the United States and the world needed to pivot and mobilize as quickly as possible to bring simulation activities with SPs online to keep learners progressing while safely implementing operations for all stakeholders, including SPs. Safety is a guiding principle in Domain 1 of the ASPE Standards of Best Practices and is paramount in discussing SP work during this pandemic. Given that SP activities are primarily face-to face encounters, prioritizing their on-the-job safety was of the utmost importance and the ethical choice. This chapter details how SPEs trained and implemented fully online SP activities for health sciences learners as part of the COVID-19 response. However, while COVID-19 was a stimulus, it has highlighted new potential and opportunities for SP based curriculums using online platforms as part of a collaborative educational design process. It is likely that online SP training and events will continue as innovation born from this crisis. Therefore, we offer and advance the definition of human simulation online as simulation designed to teach or assess learning objectives via any human simulation/SP learning activity that may be effectively planned and implemented synchronously (live) in online platforms.