New podcast launches during Healthcare Simulation Week Sept. 16-20
Dawn Wawersik, HFC nursing simulation faculty/technology instructor, co-founded the Southeast Michigan Simulation Consortium, which will debut Tuesday, Sept. 17, on Wawersik’s first podcast during Healthcare Simulation Week.
The mission of SEMS-C – which Wawersik co-founded with Nina Favor, nursing program director for simulation at Lansing Community College – is to promote collegial support, professional networking, and professional development engagement.
“Global professional organizations are a fantastic support and resource, but every area has different challenges. It has been my experience that challenges at community colleges are different from universities and hospital-based simulation educators have a completely different set of challenges, not to mention different demographics,” explained Wawersik. “We would like to reach out and help each other in the area and form a network. As a nursing educator, I think it would be very valuable to hear what my colleagues at other colleges are doing and where we stand in comparison and how we can all help each other.”
Benefits of accreditation
Accreditation ensures that the College has systems, policies, and procedures in place. It validates that HFC is meeting standards, using best practices, and giving students the best learning experience possible.
“I am in the process of collaborating with all of my colleagues in the School of Health and Human Services that use simulation in the hopes of standardizing simulation to align with International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation and Learning standards,” said Wawersik. “INACSL is the organization that sets the guidelines and best practices for healthcare simulation.”
Healthcare simulation leads to safer patient care
Healthcare Simulation Week celebrates global professionals in the medical field who use simulation to improve the safety, effectiveness, and efficiency of healthcare delivery. HFC has several state-of-the-art health sciences simulation centers on its main campus and on its East Campus. The simulation center is designed to mimic a real-world hospital environment, so students are able to hone their abilities on a simulated patient in a safe environment. This allows them to make mistakes and learn from them, according to Wawersik.
“The whole purpose of the simulation center is to promote safe patient care and inter-professionalism collaboration,” said Wawersik. “This really benefits students because it helps them apply knowledge in a clinical setting, which helps them with retention. There is real world application as opposed to learning theory in a classroom. It also makes them more employable because hospitals use simulation in nursing residential programs.”
To listen to Wawersik’s podcast, there is no link yet. An invitation will be sent to anyone who’s interested, and we'll link from this article when it's ready. Email Wawersik at dmwawersik@hfcc.edu to be sent a link.
