Hallym University Hangang Sacred Heart Hospital

Hallym-UCLA Medical Simulation Workshop hosted by Hallym University Medical Center ended with a resounding success, paving the way for HUMC's drive to develop itself into a key medical simulation hub for healthcare professionals in Korea.

The program was organized by Medical Director Randolph Steadman and Education Director Yue Ming Huang of UCLA Simulation Center, both of whom joined the 4th HUMC-UCLA Joint International Conference on March 31, 2018 as well as HUMC-UCLA Faculty Development Workshop that was held on the following week.

The workshop this time, which lasted for four days from Tuesday, October 30 through Friday, November 2, was designed to provide the participants with hands-on experience using simulation equipment so as to train Hallym’s simulation instructors. Medical staff from various departments including internal medicine, general surgery, and emergency medicine at Hallym joined the workshop to learn advanced simulation techniques as well as to enhance teamwork skills.

The program was comprised of two sessions: TeamSTEPPS master training course and scenario-based workshops. On Tuesday and Wednesday, around 40 members including doctors, nurses and administrators from Hallym's five hospitals actively participated in the teamwork training course and practiced the following twelve different modules: Introduction to TeamSTEPPS, Team Structure, Communication, Leading Teams, Situation Monitoring, Mutual Support, Summary Review - Putting It All Together, Change Management, Coaching Workshop, Measurement, Implementation Workshop, and Teaching TeamSTEPPS or Resilience Training. During the two-day session, there were also several team exercises, action planning, and debriefing. The participants were very passionate throughout the session, especially when engaged in exercises and action planning report.

On Thursday, the first scenario-based workshop session took place at Hallym University Dongtan Sacred Heart Hospital. The first scenario carried out in the morning was on 'Tracheal intubation and setting of mechanical ventilator,' where 76-year-old man experiences acute respiratory failure due to aspiration pneumonia. Subsequently, participants proceeded to simulation training based on the second scenario entitled 'Supraventricular Tachycardia with Poor Perfusion' in regards to treating a 5-year-old patient with tachycardia.

The second workshop session was held at Hallym Institute for Medical Simulation (HIMS) on the following day. A team of physicians and medical technicians performed a sequence of observable actions while dealing with a 65-year-old patient suffering from septic shock due to pneumonia. After performing both successful and unsuccessful cases, the team members shared ideas on what worked well, and what could have been done differently through debriefing.

Overall, the participants enjoyed the opportunity to learn new teamwork skills as well as advanced simulation techniques throughout the workshop. By the end of the session, they became able to understand the potential for positive outcomes derived by enhancing the bonds within team members using different communication tools.

"Medical staff are often confronted with demands and pressures in their career. It is very important therefore that they know how to face such pressures and how to manage them," Director Sung Gyun Kim of HIMS said.

"The aim of the workshop was to help the staff acquire a set of advanced simulation techniques and prevent miscommunication in the workplace to provide high quality healthcare service. Despite the short span of time, the program prepared by the experts from UCLA Simulation Center was more than good enough to stimulate the participants to vigorously engage in various kinds of activities. Everyone has done such a wonderful job, and I was very happy to see the aim fulfilled," he added.

By Chul Kwon, Int’l Cooperation Team, HUMC (chris@hallym.or.kr)