WIRED-RT COVID-19 Simulation Curriculum Toolkit

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Background

The COVID-19 pandemic has put new constraints on the care of patients. Concerns about viral transmission, limiting exposure, proper PPE utilization, and evolving best practices in caring for patients with a novel viral disease has led to healthcare workers feeling high levels of uncertainty and has left healthcare systems scrambling to prepare their staff for sudden surges in patients.

The WIRED-RT COVID-19 Simulation Curriculum Toolkit was designed to help health systems and healthcare providers prepare for surges in COVID-19 cases. They focus on proper PPE utilization, infection control practices, and patient care best-practices as of the date of publication. The four included cases cover emergent intubation, use of high-flow oxygen delivery, cardiac arrest care, and safe intra-and inter-hospital transport protocols for patients with COVID-19. The cases will help prepare interprofessional teams of healthcare workers to safely and effectively care for their patients, improve communication, and obtain deliberate practice in high-stakes, high-acuity, low-frequency care events.

Who should use this toolkit?

This toolkit is intended for use by healthcare educators and quality assurance professionals who are facile with simulation education techniques. These cases are designed to be run for practicing healthcare practitioners who currently are, or will be, caring for patients with COVID-19.

What does the toolkit contain?

Each of the four cases within the WIRED-RT COVID-19 Simulation Curriculum Toolkit provides a full case guide, including:

  • a case overview
  • a set-up guide
  • pre-briefing materials
  • a facilitation guide
  • facilitation powerpoint
  • a facilitation checklist
  • a debriefing guide
  • a video example of the case

The cases were designed to run with high-technology simulation equipment, but this level of technology is not required, and they could easily be adapted to whatever level of technology is available to the educator.

How should these tools be used?

The materials in this toolkit:

  1. Can be used as-is for educators or quality assurance professionals as educational materials to facilitate simulation exercises to prepare their staff for surges in COVID-19 patients.
  2. Can be adapted to fit the education or quality needs of the specific healthcare team or system, including adaptation for pre-hospital providers.

A copy of the survey instruments and information on adapting them is available in this PDF file. Additionally, to allow you to easily adapt the instruments for use in your organization, they are provided as separate file in Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint that you can download on the HIPxChange site.

Development of this toolkit

The WIRED-RT COVID-19 Simulation Curriculum toolkit was developed by researchers, educators, and clinicians (Principal Investigator: Manish N. Shah, MD, MPH) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine & Public Health – BerbeeWalsh Department of Emergency Medicine. This project was supported by grant funding from the Wisconsin Partnership Program. Additional support was provided by the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health’s Health Innovation Program (HIP), the Wisconsin Partnership Program, and the Community-Academic Partnerships core of the University of Wisconsin Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (UW ICTR), UL1TR002373 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health or other funders.

Please send questions, comments and suggestions to HIPxChange@hip.wisc.edu

About the Authors

Ryan Thompson, MD, CHSE is an Assistant Clinical Professor with the University of Wisconsin – Madison BerbeeWalsh Department of Emergency Medicine and Medical Director of the UW Health Clinical Simulation Program and Emergency Education Center. Dr. Thompson’s work focuses on the use of experiential learning and simulation-based education, as well as process development and the use of simulation for improving quality of patient care.

Gina Tranel, RN, CHSE is a Simulation Educator with UW Health Clinical Simulation Program. Her passion for simulation began when she started at the UW Health Clinical Simulation Program in 2013 as student help while in nursing school. Upon graduating from Edgewood College with her bachelor of science in nursing, she started at UW Health in acute medical and progressive care while staying on as a part-time simulation educator at the UW Health Clinical Simulation Program. She has since rejoined the team as a full-time educator. She is pursuing a Masters in Healthcare Simulation.

Mark Johanneck, BA, CHSOS is a Simulation Specialist with the UW Health Clinical Simulation Program. Mark earned his bachelor of arts in organizational communication from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. He has over 15 years of experience working for the UW School of Medicine and Public Health, six as a technology liaison for the Clinical Teaching and Assessment Center.

Erick Przybylski, MS, CHSOS is a Simulation Educator with the UW Health Clinical Simulation Program. Erick earned his Master of Science in Medical and Health Care Simulation through Drexel University’s School of Medicine. Erick spent a majority of his career working in the air medical industry as a paramedic and regional educator.

Michael Pulia, MD, MS is a Tenure-track Assistant Professor and Director of the Emergency Care for Infectious Diseases (EC-ID) Research Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is also Director of Emergency Medicine Antimicrobial Stewardship. In these capacities, he leads a health services research program focused primarily on improving infectious disease diagnosis, infection control, and antimicrobial stewardship in the emergency department and downstream care settings. Dr. Pulia’s program has been supported by intra- and extramural sources, including the Wisconsin Partnership Program and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).