skip to content

Australian Society for Simulation in Healthcare

The Australian Society for Simulation in Healthcare is a Chapter of Simulation Australia.

Australian Society for Simulation in Healthcare

Message from the ASSH Chair

 ASSH Chair - Brian JollyI  write this just after returning from 10 days camping in NSW over New Year, so I'll wish you all a very Happy and Prosperous New Year even though, by the time you get this, it maybe nearly 2013!

There were two events late in 2011 with much significance for ASSH and its membership.

The first, on December 13th was (our umbrella organisation) Simulation Australia's, "Skills Summit" in Canberra. This showcased the wide variety of Simulation Australia's interests in simulation with a number of presenters from different fields; such as health, defence, and mining. Its role was to show how Simulation Australia could grow and develop in the next 10 years to enable it to continue to offer support to its traditional ‘user’ the Defence industry, while at the same time seeking to grow the number of people choosing to make long term careers in simulation, enhance the knowledge and skills of the workforce, facilitate development standards, and bring together diverse groups with a common interest in simulation in order to share knowledge.

As a peak body, Simulation Australia convened people from Government, Industry and Academia to address three core questions:

  1. How to catalyse and celebrate a wealth of collective knowledge about simulation to generate innovative solutions for the future?
  2. How to enable decision-makers from the public and private sector to discuss and debate issues and solutions to the future training requirements for the simulation professional?
  3. Which of the sectors, and how Simulation Australia, could best contribute to the continual professional development needed to maintain relevance and improve standards?

As Alisha Fisher (CEO of Simulation Australia) noted in her briefing document: "If there is to be a simulation professional role identified in the future, we need to be working out what that means across the broad range of industries. If Health requires 6,000 simulation trainer/professionals within the next three years, and with the Defence simulation roadmap requirements, what is our next step moving forward?"

One of those steps forward was the second event. Starting in Melbourne on the following day, the inaugural Australian Simulation Education and Technical Training (AusSETT) ‘train the trainer’ workshop, used the excellent health simulation facilities at Holmesglen Institute. The AusSETT program, funded by Health Workforce Australia, is a move to provide training aimed at optimising the use of simulated learning environments. It was developed by an Australian group represented by Edith Cowan University, Flinders University, Monash University (lead), Queensland Health, The University of Melbourne, and The University of Queensland. Details of the team that have put this impressive program together in a remarkably short timescale can be found on the AusSETT web site, and I feel rather privileged to be one of them.

The first course was mounted as the last stage of the design process. It involved on-line activities, face-to-face discussion, group management of simulation activities with peer feedback, and a commitment to engage in the training of additional simulation professionals over the next few years. The course is designed for both simulation teachers and those involved in coordinating the technical aspects so vital to good simulation.

As, one of the participants, Cathy Haigh, a medical school teacher in Gippsland explained, "Highlights of the workshop included meeting ... other simulation trainers who willingly shared their expertise. This networking will be facilitated by using an eportfolio, Pebblepad, to record and share ideas, experiences and reflections on simulation. We discussed terminology and described ‘stages’ of simulation in educational contexts: preparation, pre-briefing, briefing, intervention and very importantly debriefing. An expert simulated patient provided insights into the rigours of preparing to portray patients, discussed ways to support students in their learning and modelled one approach to feedback. The program has presented many innovative ways to engage in simulation activities and I look forward to including distributed and sequential simulation in my teaching repertoire, blending simulation activities and expanding my scope of feedback to include the "near peer" lens. AusSETT has given me an infrastructure and an evidence base on which to share my knowledge of simulation with other educators."

AusSETT will be coming to a location near you soon! You can find out more by contacting your State/Territory health services training managers.

Best wishes,

Brian Jolly
ASSH Chair

SimHealth Conference

SimHealth 2011 was very successful - with numbers greater than ever before, excellent keynote speakers, and a full program. You can download a Newsletter / Summary.

SimHealth 2012 will be held at the Sydney Hilton, from Monday 10 September – Thursday 13 September 2012.

The theme is: Making Teams Work.

We are very pleased to announce the following two keynote speakers have been confirmed:

Tanja Manser, Associate Professor for Industrial Psychology and Human Factors, University of Fribourg, Switzerland

Tanja holds a Professorship funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation at University of Fribourg, Switzerland where she leads a team of psychologists conducting research on human performance and patient safety. Her work is focused on studying safety relevant behaviours such as teamwork in operating theatres and communication during postoperative handover in clinical and simulation environments.

Walter Eppich, Physician in the Division of Pediatric Emergency medicine at Children's Memorial hospital in Chicago, and an Instructor, Pediatrics at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine and The Center For Medical Simulation – Harvard University – Massachusetts USA

His research and education interests focus on simulation of acute paediatric emergencies, crisis resource management, optimal debriefing strategies, and facility development and simulation instructor training.

Previous ASSH Conferences:

Asia-Pacific Meeting on Simulation in Healthcare

The international Society for Simulation in Healthcare (SSH) and the Australian Society for Simulation in Healthcare (ASSH) hosted the Asia-Pacific Meeting on Simulation in Healthcare (APMSH), was held 19th - 22nd May 2011 at the Grand Hyatt, Hong Kong.

APMSH Co-Convenors: and .

Local Hong Kong Co-Chairs: and .

Keynote speakers:

For further details, see the web-page.

Special Interest Groups

Paediatric and Neonatal Special Interest Group

For those who missed out, the "An Expert Guide to Paediatric Simulation" was a fantastic workshop with four days worth of program crammed into one. This was both a testament to the organisers and the quality of the presenters and instructors involved.

The workshop demonstrated that good simulations can be delivered in just about any teaching environment with the right preparation, planning and appropriate equipment. The scenarios provided very immersive training and an excellent opportunity to demonstrate approaches to debriefing.

Well done to Rino and the team.

An Expert Guide to Paediatric Simulation

In March, the Paediatric and Neonatal Special Interest Group (PaNSIG) organised a pre-congress symposium to coincide with the 6th World Congress of Paediatric Critical Care in Sydney. Over 50 participants registered and attended the symposium, which was aimed at clinicians interested in the use of simulation for education of healthcare staff in paediatric intensive care and also other clinical areas.

The symposium brought together an international faculty of simulation experts and aimed to provide participants with knowledge and skills to deliver effective teaching using simulation. Experts including David Grant (Bristol Simulation Centre, UK), Vinay Nadkarni (Medical Director, Center for Simulation, Advanced Education, and Innovation at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia) and Stephanie Sudikoff (Director of Simulation for the Department of Pediatrics at Yale School of Medicine) joined local Faculty to present information on innovative simulation course design, uses and techniques.

Practical workshops on scenario writing, debriefing and effective moulage divulged tricks of the trade and provided opportunities to participate in a number of simulation related activities. Question and answer sessions with experts organised during a "working lunch" covered a range of relevant topics with groups reporting back after lunch to all participants on issues discussed.

The day culminated in three simulation sessions – where teams of volunteers participated in simulated paediatric scenarios using varying resources. Overall, the day was extremely well evaluated and allowed opportunities for networking for paediatric and neonatal educators from around Australia, New Zealand and far beyond.

ASSH Paediatric Simulation symposium

Andrew Heasley presenting at the Paediatric Simulation symposium

 

 

 

 

 

 

Further information on the Paediatric and Neonatal Special Interest Group can be obtained by emailing .

Marino Festa
Acting Chair Paediatric and Neonatal Special Interest Group, ASSH

Rural Special Interest Group

Information on the establishment of the Rural Special Interest Group will be provided shortly.

ASSH Annual General Meetings

The ASSH 2011 AGM was held at SimHealth 2011 on 14 September 2011.

Download the:

The ASSH 2010 AGM was held at SimTecT Health 2010 on 1 September 2010.

Download the:

The ASSH 2009 AGM was held at SimTecT Health 2009:

Download the:

Engagement

National Health Workforce Taskforce

At SimTecT Health 2009, Peter Carver, Executive Director of the National Health Workforce Taskforce (NHWT) addressed the following topics:

  1. Overview of the COAG reforms.
  2. How the reforms will impact on clinical training governance, organisation and delivery; including simulation.
  3. Overview of the Synthetic Learning Environment project including consultation and communication.

Download the Presentation.

Global Network for Simulation in Healthcare

ASSH is a member of the Global Network for Simulation in Healthcare, and participated in two meetings in London in 2010 and 2011.

The mission statement is: "A global network of organizations, committed to enhancing patient safety and quality of healthcare by promoting the appropriate use of simulation through collaboration, advocacy and support."

ASSH Members have been asked by the Chair, Brian Jolly, to comment on the mission statement.

The objectives of GNSH are:

  1. To promote the appropriate use of simulation in healthcare to improve patient care and safety, clinical service, training, research and education
  2. That the network will act as source of expertise
  3. That the network will act as a global resource
  4. Through shared advocacy, to support and promote the use of simulation in healthcare
  5. Terms of reference and ways of collaborative working

Further details may be found in the Concordat, and on the interim web-site.

Newsletter

Welcome to the fourth edition of the newsletter of ASSH, the Australian Society for Simulation in Healthcare. The purpose of this newsletter is to keep members informed of what is happening in the rapidly changing world of healthcare simulation in Australia. This newsletter provides an opportunity to share your experiences with others engaged in the use of simulation to improve healthcare.

Previous Newsletters

Contributing to the newsletter

How can the ASSH newsletter help you and your colleagues?

Healthcare simulation in Australia is dispersed widely and we have limited opportunities to benefit from the simulation expertise that exists in isolated pockets around the country. The newsletter provides an opportunity for you to learn from your colleagues, but also help your colleagues, by submitting articles that share your experiences.

The types of articles we are looking for are short synopses (150-500 words) of work relevant to healthcare simulation and elevator pitches (see below) to help promote simulation in healthcare. As we get feedback about the types of articles ASSH members want to share we will create a terms of reference for the newsletter. The terms of reference will refect the ASSH terms of reference where we engage through the ASSH newsletter "To promote simulation education, training and research, to enhance the safety and quality of healthcare in Australia." See the ASSH terms of reference.

Submission deadline for Issue 5 is March 1st 2012.

The elevator pitch - Request for participation

There is a strong belief within the simulation community that appropriate use of simulation can contribute to improvement in patient outcomes – there is now mounting evidence that this is indeed the case in certain contexts. However, investment in simulation in healthcare is still quite low. To increase the effective use of simulation we need to convince the ‘bean-counters’ to buy into simulation. If we only had the right pitch for our CEO!

What is your 60 second elevator pitch to plug simulation?

Please submit your pitch (250 words max) so we can share your good idea. We will publish examples in each edition of the newsletter to help others in the community promote effective simulation in healthcare. There are plenty of guides on line on how to develop an elevator pitch (for example).

Awards

ASSH Distinguished Service Awards

The Australian Society for Simulation in Healthcare (ASSH) is a young society, having only been formed in 2007, although work was undertaken over several years prior to that time to help with the establishment of the Society.

We have reached a point in the history of ASSH where some of the individuals who were pivotal in the establishment of the Society are moving on to other endeavours. That being the case, the ASSH Executive has deemed it appropriate to consider the establishment of the ASSH Distinguished Service Awards to individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the field of healthcare simulation in Australia over a prolonged period of time.

It is our pleasure to award the following recipients with an ASSH Distinguished Service Award:

Dr Patrick Cregan FRACS

Pat Cregan is a Visiting Surgeon at Nepean Hospital, Penrith in Western Sydney, with a special interest in endocrine and laparoscopic surgery. Pat has served on the ASSH Executive from the time ASSH was formally established in 2007 until the present day. In fact Pat has been a part of the Australian medical simulation community since the very beginning, being the first person to propose the idea of an Australian Medical Simulation Society, and being the co-founder of what was known as the Australian Medical Simulation Society back in 2000. Pat has had a longstanding interest in surgical robotics – he was the first surgeon in Australia and the sixth surgeon in the world to perform a tele-surgical procedure back in 1998. Pat is also very involved in projects relating to the use of hapto-visual environments – he is an active participant with the eHealth Group of CSIRO.

Pat has had to step down from his role with ASSH due to other work commitments - he holds several other appointments as follows:

ASSH has been very well served by Pat's specialty interests in simulation, his broad understanding of the healthcare system and the surgical perspective he has brought to the Society's activities.

Dr Graham Beaumont PhD

Graham Beaumont has been the Treasurer of the Australian Society for Simulation in Healthcare since its inception in 2007 – in fact since before ASSH's inception, as he began his role in what was to become ASSH as early as 2005.

Graham has a long and impressive history in the aviation and business worlds, with some of his achievements summarised here to give a sense of the corporate and Human Factors wisdom he has brought into the healthcare simulation community. Graham has been involved in the airline industry since 1969, starting with a variety of pilot and Captain roles in Qantas, including a progressively increasing role in pilot training. He developed and implemented the initial Human Factors training in Qantas in the late 80's, undertook a number of training development projects at Qantas during the 90's and was a simulator and line training captain from 2000-2003.

From 1997 – 2002, he completed his PhD on An Investigation into the Management of Flight Aspects of Airline Captain Performance at the University of Western Sydney.

Since 2003 Graham has worked in a Human Factors and Operational consultancy capacity to the Aviation, Power, & Healthcare sectors. Graham's work in the healthcare sector has included being a Board Member of the Institute for Clinical Excellence, NSW Health from 2001-2004, and a Board Member of the Clinical Excellence Commission of NSW from 2005-2008.

ASSH has benefited enormously from his wealth of business knowledge and his corporate wisdom. As the ASSH Treasurer he has been instrumental in ensuring the financial success of ASSH and each year delivered a profitable budget. His cost effective ideas and financial business acumen have proven to be a valuable asset to the ASSH Executive.

Ms Katie Walker RN, RM

Katie Walker was the Project Manager for the Simulated Learning Environments project for Health Workforce Australia (HWA), a position she held from March 2009 to October 2011.

Katie was the inaugural Secretary of the Australian Society for Simulation in Healthcare from the time of ASSH's establishment in 2007 until September 2009. She then became the Chair-Elect of ASSH, with the expectation of becoming the incoming ASSH Chair at this meeting, a position she has had to forego in association with taking up her new role with HWA.

After initially working as a Clinical Nurse Educator and then Acting Director of Nursing, Katie undertook a variety of roles at the Queensland Skills Development Centre from 2003-2009, namely:

In 2006 Katie was the recipient of a Churchill Fellowship to study Clinical Simulation Centres in the USA, UK, and Europe, visiting 35 simulation centres during her travels.

Katie has been an outstanding international ambassador for healthcare simulation in Australia helping forge ASSH's strong links with the international Society for Simulation in Healthcare (SSH) through a variety of roles, including:

ASSH has been fortunate to benefit from Katie's strong commitment and her enduring passion to spread the word about simulation in a global capacity. Her wealth of knowledge, experience and strong networking links has greatly benefited not only the SimTecT Health conferences but also all activities relating to ASSH.

Simulation Australia Achievement Awards

Each year, the Board of the Simulation Australia considers nominations for a Simulation Australia Achievement Award. Candidates for the Achievement Award will have demonstrated: "A significant contribution to the development of modelling and simulation science, technology, policy, standards and / or industry in Australia."

In 2011, the Board announced two health-related awardees, which were presented by CEO Alisha Fisher at the SimHealth 2011 Dinner:

Dr. Geoff McDonnell

Dr. Geoff McDonnell is a great Australian pioneer in health systems simulation and health informatics. Throughout his extensive career he has made many significant contributions to the development adoption and exploitation of computational simulation methods in healthcare, both in Australia, and internationally. He would be an exceptionally worthy recipient of this lifetime achievement award.

A boundary rider for his entire career, Geoff has dual qualifications in clinical medicine, and engineering, and he has been a pioneer not just of systems simulation in healthcare, but also made many early contributions to the development of health informatics and e-health in Australia.

He has for the last eight years been a research fellow at the Centre for Health Informatics at the University of New South Wales, as well as running his own consultancy, Adaptive Care Systems. Prior to that, Geoff held positions senior positions including with IBM (1995-9) and Ernest and Young (seconded to the National Health Communications Network) (1992-3). He was prior to this the Director of Clinical Management Systems, NSW Health (1991) on the Information Systems Task Force for NSW Health (1990), and Director of Health Information Systems, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney (1984-8).

His pioneering credentials are underlined by holding (perhaps the only ever) National Health & Medical Research Council Research Fellowship in Medical Computing (1983-4), upon his return from a highly formative Research Fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT/Harvard Health Sciences and Massachusetts General Hospital. There he was exposed to many of the very early pioneers in health informatics, and brought back to Australia a passion, experience and vision, which has allowed him to make the many contributions that followed.

Geoff's contributions to health simulation are multiple and significant: his development of innovative computational models in health which have had a substantial impact on national health policy; his passion for educating others in the value and methods of simulation; his significant contributions to the development of the field at a professional level, and not least, his important scientific contributions to the discipline.

Assoc. Professor. Richard Riley

Assoc Prof Richard Riley has edited a substantial handbook on the use of simulation in various healthcare settings ranging from emergency medicine, intensive care, anaesthesia, military medicine, nursing and obstetrics. Published by Oxford University Press, the Manual of Simulation in Healthcare (2008) involves impressive contributions by simulation experts drawn from all around the world. In 2009, Assoc Prof Riley received a prestigious Book Award from the British Medical Society in recognition of the quality of his literary achievement. The book has been translated into Korean with other language editions likely to follow.

 

 

 

Dr Leonie Watterson MBBS , FANZCA, MClinEd

Dr Leonie Watterson Stephanie O'Regan accepts the award at SimTecT on behalf of Leonie

In 2010 the Simulation Australia Board acknowledged the outstanding contribution to simulation in Australian healthcare made over a long period of time by Dr Leonie Watterson.

Leonie has been at the forefront of the establishment of simulation-based education, training and research in healthcare in Australia since 1997. Her commitment to this role is demonstrable through the progressive escalation of her role nationally:

In helping drive the establishment of ASSH, Leonie undertook an enormous amount of work drawing together a myriad of healthcare and related stakeholders to establish the Society. Leonie was also primarily responsible for developing the Society's Terms of Reference and operational guidelines. In her role as inaugural Chair of ASSH Leonie was also involved in a series of high-level talks with the Federal Department of Health and Ageing (DOHA) to provide advice on a national strategy for simulation in healthcare.

One of her current roles is as a member of the National Expert Reference Group for the Health Workforce Australia's Simulation Learning Environment Project, to guide a national strategy around healthcare simulation infrastructure.

Leonie's professional achievements also include convening the national ASSH conference, SimTecT Health, for several years. SimTecT has quickly become established as the premier healthcare simulation conference in the Asia Pacific region. Leonie has often been involved in the scientific review process for this conference as well.

Remarkably, throughout this time and continuing to this day, Leonie has been able to maintain her role as a practicing anaesthetist and as a valued contributor to the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA) – as well as managing to complete a Masters of Education. It is quite a challenge to work as an anaesthetist, establish and manage a simulation centre, and conduct high-quality educational research, especially in the face of centre infrastructure constraints.

Despite this Leonie is well published in peer-reviewed journals in aspects of both anaesthesia practice and simulation. An excellent example that spans both fields is that Leonie has been a principal author of an innovative simulation based course that has become a requirement for specialist anaesthesia training in Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong - the Effective Management of Anaesthesia Crises (EMAC) course. Leonie maintains an ongoing role in overseeing aspects of the periodic revision of the course. Leonie has also undertaken important research regarding the validation of the use of simulation for the performance assessment of clinicians.

Thanks to her efforts Australia is leading the way in many aspects of healthcare simulation internationally.

SimHealth Research Awards - 2011

University of Technology Sydney, Research Awards Sponsor

The University of Technology Sydney has sponsored this year's Research Awards. A prize to the value of $200 was awarded for each of:

 

    SimHealth 2011 Best Abstract ‘Pushing the boundaries’
  1. Overall best abstract
    Gary Rogers, Nicole Jones de Rooy, Harry McConnell, Marise Lombard and The CLEIMS Teaching Team Griffith University, QLD
    CLEIMS: Outcomes of a Randomised Educational Trial of Extended Immersion in Medical Simulation
  2. Best technical abstract
    Stephen McDonald Western Hospital Melbourne
    Assessment of ENT Registrars using a virtual reality mastoid surgery simulator
  3. Best abstract ‘Pushing the boundaries’
    Toni Azzopardi, Amanda Johnson, Kirrilee Phillips, Cathy Dickson, Cecily Hengstberger-Sims, Mary Goldsmith and Trevor Allan – University of Western Sydney
    Simulation as a learning strategy: Supporting undergraduate nursing students with disabilities
  4. Best research abstract
    Simon Cooper, Tracy McConnell-Henry, Jo Porter, Karen Missen, Leigh Kinsman, Ruth Endacott, and Robyn Cant Monash University Robert Champion from La Trobe University
    Managing deteriorating patients: Registered nurses' performance in a simulated setting
    5. SimHealth 2011 Best Poster
  5. Best poster (voted by delegates at the conference)
    Amy Dearsley and Louise Alexander – Homesglen
    Integrated simulation-based education in undergraduate nursing studies

 

 

Terms of Reference

Download the latest Terms of Reference.

Membership

Become a Member of the peak national industry body representing professionals working within healthcare simulation, education and research.

Benefits of ASSH membership include full member benefits of three organisations: ASSH, SSH and Simulation Australia.

Membership Categories and Benefits of Membership

Benefit Individual Associate Corporate
Quarterly ASSH E-newsletter ✓ ✓ ✓
General ASSH news and events including notification of employment opportunities within the healthcare simulation arena ✓ ✓ ✓
Special interest group involvement ✓ ✓ ✓
Discounts on annual SimHealth Conferences and ASSH sponsored courses ✓ ✓ Note 1 ✓ Note 1
Early notification and consultation regarding sponsorship and trade exhibition opportunities at the annual SimHealth Conference     ✓
20% discount for one SimHealth exhibition booth     ✓
Membership of the international Society of Simulation in Healthcare (SSH). Unless you otherwise specify you will automatically receive all of the benefits of an Individual member including:
  • Electronic access access to the bi-monthly journal, Simulation in Healthcare
  • Subscribing access to the SSH members' email listserv - a lively and informative resource
 ✓ ✓ Note 2 ✓ Note 2
Membership of Simulation Australia - a network of professional colleagues for collaboration, joint ventures and strategic alliances. A voice to politicians, senior government officials, media representatives, other national organisations and decision-makers relevant to simulation application and policy in Australia.

Unless you otherwise specify you will automatically receive all of the benefits of an Individual member including:

  • Quarterly state-based networking events hosted by our members
  • Discount on:
    • Initial Certification Fees
    • Introduction to Simulation in Australia seminar; and
    • Attendance at SimTecT Conference.
  • A monthly National E-News
  • Ability to vote at Simulation Australia meetings.
 ✓ ✓ ✓

Notes:

  1. One Associate or Corporate membership entitles the organisation to two or six respectively discounted registrations at SimHealth or ASSH sponsored courses
  2. One Associate or Corporate membership entitled the organisation to one electronic copy of the SSH Journal

It is important to note that a 12-month ASSH membership is included in the 2011 SimHealth conference full registration fee. (Excluding day and student registration). Those delegates who are already members will have their membership anniversary date extended by one full year. The ASSH membership also includes Individual Membership of Simulation Australia and full member benefits of the international Society for Simulation in Healthcare (SSH). Your membership will include access to the Simulation in Healthcare Journal, Listserv and networking and curriculum sharing opportunities.

Activating your SSH prepaid coupon

It is important to note that ASSH membership includes full member benefits of the international Society for Simulation in Healthcare (SSH). Your membership will include access to the Simulation in Healthcare Journal, Listserv and networking and curriculum sharing opportunities. Please note: ASSH members must register their SSH membership by logging onto the SSH website and joining as a member by using the prepaid coupon supplied with your membership letter.

If you need further assistance please contact

Apply for Membership

Download the:

You can join on-line.

Note – Please make any cheques payable to "Simulation Australia Ltd".

Executive Committee

ASSH Executive Committee

From 14 September 2011, the Executive Committee is:

ASSH Executive Committee 2011/2012 Position State
1 Chair VIC
2 Marcus Watson Immediate Past Chair QLD
3 Debra Nestel Chair Elect VIC
4 Treasurer NSW
5 Secretary / Project Officer (Non-Voting) VIC
6 Alisha Fisher Simulation Australia Representative SA
7 Leonie Watterson Member of Good Standing NSW
8 Michelle Kelly Member of Good Standing VIC
9 Brendan Flanagan Member of Good Standing VIC
10 Kirsty Freeman Member of Good Standing WA
11 Julian van Dijk Member of Good Standing WA
12 Dylan Campher Member of Good Standing QLD
13 Stephanie O'Regan Member of Good Standing NSW
14 Stuart Marshall Member of Good Standing VIC
15 Tess Vawser Member of Good Standing VIC
16 Jennifer Weller Member of Good Standing NZ

Executive Profiles

Brian Jolly - Chair

ASSH Executive - Brian Jolly

Brian has interests in the use of simulation for assessment and well as in the development of clinical education generally. He was a Chief investigator on the recent project to look at opportunities for the use of simulation in the undergraduate medical curriculum across Australia.

A graduate in Psychology, Brian began working in medical education in 1972. In 1983 he helped develop the ‘Cambridge Conference’: a series of conferences that has had a major international impact on medical education through major publications.

In 1989 he obtained a UK Enterprise in Higher Education grant (£752,000) for staff development and student-centred education - at that time the largest ever grant awarded for medical education. This was later eclipsed by a successful bid from a consortium of four schools, in which he was a CI, in North Thames region, for development of Community-based medical education (£852,000).

In 1993 he co-led a team in a successful tender to the Commonwealth Government of Australia for a research project to scope and redesign the training scheme for general practitioners.

In 1994 he completed a PhD for work on clinical education at Maastricht University, the Netherlands, having previously gained a master of education degree in curriculum studies in higher education from Sussex University in 1981.

In January 2002 he became Professor of Medical Education and Director, Centre for Medical and Health Sciences Education, Monash University. He was on the Federal Ministerial Steering Committee for the Australian Medical Education Study, and in 2009 co-hosted the Ottawa Conference on Medical Education – Ozzawa 2008. He is a member of the Postgraduate Medical Council of Victoria, and of various committees associated with the Australian Curriculum Framework for Junior Doctors. He has engaged in consultancy work for many Universities, and numerous organisations in Australia, the UK and in the Middle East.

He now leads the Health Workforce Education and Assessment Research team in the faculty and has over 130 peer reviewed publications, has edited two books and contributed chapters to many more. His Hirsch "h-index is currently 20.

Marcus Watson – Past-Chair

Coming soon!

Leonie Watterson

 ASSH Executive - Leonie Watterson

Clinical Associate Professor Leonie Watterson MBBS FANZCA MClinEd

Position: Director, Simulation Division, Sydney Clinical Skills and Simulation Centre (2000-present)

Qualifications:
Other appointments:
Professional roles:

Andrea Coulsell – Secretary / Project Officer

 Andrea Coulsell - ASSH Project Officer

Andrea Coulsell has been the Project Officer for the Australian Society for Simulation in Healthcare (ASSH) a special interest group of Simulation Australia Ltd since November 2008.

In 2007, Andrea completed a 12-month contract as the Centre Manager at the Southern Health Simulation and Skills Centre a purpose-built education and research facility located within Monash Medical Centre, Moorabbin Campus. It was at this time that Andrea developed an interest in simulation and she has enjoyed transferring her administrative and project management skills into an innovative arena like simulation based training in healthcare.

Andrea's career spanned 12 years at Toyota Motor Corporation from 1989 to 2001 where she became a Manager in the Sales and Marketing Division and later in the Human Resources Division. As a Toyota trained Manager, Andrea has experience in many facets of business including management reporting and analysis, order planning, demand forecasting, system planning, KPI and Balanced Scorecard reporting, policies and procedures, HR recruitment functions and staff management.

Andrea's primary role as the ASSH Project Officer is to manage the operational needs of the society. Her main focus is to co-ordinate the three committees who organise and develop the scientific program for the SimHealth: Innovation, Education and Research in healthcare conference that is attended by over 300 delegates each year. The program includes international keynote speakers, local speakers and government representatives, plenary sessions, workshops, oral presentations and posters. Andrea also oversees all administrative duties and projects related to the ASSH Executive Committee and the administration of a growing membership base currently at 450 members. Andrea is the Secretary (non-voting role) of the ASSH Executive Committee and is a member of the SimHealth 2012 Organising, Scientific, Advisory and Strategic Oversight committees.

Peter Hill – Treasurer

 ASSH Treasurer - Peter Hill

Peter Hill has contributed to Simulation Australia (formerly the Simulation Industry Association of Australia) since its genesis in 1994 with roles as Secretary, Chairman, and Executive Officer. Peter encouraged the development of the health component of the annual SimTecT conference, which grew into SimHealth, and from which ASSH formed and flourished.

Since working on the F-111C Mission Simulator project with Wormald Technology in 1995, Peter has specialised in simulation systems, starting a consulting company Simcon Services in 1999. Simcon Services advises and manages simulation projects for clients such as Department of Innovation Industry Science and Research, Defence, RailCorp NSW, and Monash University.

In 2011 Peter formed SimConHealth to provide simulation project management and education systems services to the healthcare sector.

Peter has MBA, BE (Electrical), and BSc (Computer Science) degrees.

Michelle Kelly

 ASSH Executive - Michelle Kelly

Michelle has been a  Member of Good Standing on the ASSH Executive Committee since 2007.

She has also contributed to the organisation of the SimHealth (previously SimTecT Health) conference from 2006 to 2008.

As the Director of Simulation and Technologies at the Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Health, University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) Michelle's main role is leading the integration of simulation and technologies within Faculty curricula. Integral to this role is liaising within and across Faculties and with external industry partners. In addition, Michelle has influenced and contributed to the design of new clinical practice and simulation laboratories at two UTS sites, the most recent a $2.4 million renewal of City campus labs. Involvement with emerging and professional simulation groups, including project work, extends beyond Australia to the USA, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Samoa and New Zealand.

Michelle's doctoral research is focusing on how simulations may enhance students' clinical judgement to practice as Registered Nurses. In 2009, Michelle received a UTS learning and teaching citation award and in July 2010, an Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) national citation award for sustained leadership and mentorship in health care simulation learning experiences.

Engagement with internal and external teaching and learning grant groups incorporates positions as either project leader, participant or reference group member on topics such as: simulation and ICT within nursing curricula; use of best practice guidelines for OSCEs; and creating spaces which support contemporary, authentic learning experiences. At a national level, Michelle contributes as a member of the Simulated Learning Environments (SLE) expert reference group for both Health Workforce Australia (representing ASSH) and the Council of Deans Nursing and Midwifery (Australia and New Zealand). Professional membership (simulation) includes: ASSH, SSH and INACSL.

Debra Nestel – Chair Elect

 ASSH Executive - Debra Nestel

Debra Nestel joined the ASSH Executive Committee as a Member of Good Standing in September 2009.

Debra Nestel is Professor of Medical Education, Gippsland Medical School (GMS), Monash University, Australia. Over the last thirty years, she has worked at the University of Hong Kong and Imperial College London. In 2008, Debra returned to Monash where she is responsible for educational research at GMS. Her research interests include the role of simulation in supporting learning, particularly in procedural and operative skills. Debra pioneered the concept of patient-focused simulation (PFS) with her colleague Roger Kneebone. In PFS, a simulated patient and simulator model (urinary catheterization, suture pad etc) are ‘combined’ in a simulated environment in order to provide a learner-centred experience. PFS enables the learner the opportunity to integrate the broad sets of psychomotor, communication and other professional skills required for safe and effective practice. The approach has been adopted internationally for teaching, learning and assessing procedural skills in undergraduate medical education.

Debra has extensive experience of working with simulated patients to support the development of communication and other professional skills. This experience includes scenario development, training methods for role portrayal and feedback to learners. A thread through much of her work is the need for authentic simulation. In simulated patient methodology this means offering authentic patient perspectives.

A focus of her current simulation-based research is finding ways to make high quality simulation-based education accessible to the health workforce through the concept of ‘Distributed Simulation’.

Debra's research usually draws on qualitative methods. She has extensive expertise in program evaluation. Social learning and instructional design theories underpin her educational program design.

Debra holds an honorary professorial appointment at the University of Melbourne where she has developed a Master's level program in Surgical Education to be offered with the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. She remains a consultant to Imperial College where she contributes to various research and educational programs. Debra has published over 120 peer-reviewed publications and several book chapters in the field of clinical communication and simulation-based education.

Kirsty Freeman

Coming soon!

Julian Van Dijk

Coming soon!

Dylan Campher

Coming soon!

Stephanie O'Regan

 ASSH Executive - Stephanie O'Regan

Qualifications: RN, BN, MHSM, MHSc(Ed), Cert Emergency Nursing Harvard Instructors Course

Current Professional Appointments

Statement of Purpose: Stephanie has been a member of ASSH since its inception and for the past 2 years she has been part of the scientific committee for the annual meeting. This entailed participation in the paper review group and organisation of the in-conference events and workshops including “SimWars”. She will continue to support the society's meeting by remaining on the organising committee for 2012 in a similar role to previous years.

As an active member of the simulation community, she has presented at national and international meetings for simulation and has helped to raise the profile of simulation as an educational modality at other clinical forums including trauma, emergency, paediatrics, critical care and rural medicine. She remains committed to ASSH's role in raising awareness of the value of simulation in healthcare education and will support this as requested.

Stephanie first became involved with simulated learning environments when she authored a simulation education scoping report for NSW Health in 2001 on the then current and future role of simulation in clinical education. Ten years later she's once again working with simulation at state level, this time coordinating the NSW Health projects selected to receive Health Workforce Australia funding. Embedded within this role is the requirement to audit the existing simulation structure and resources within NSW with the view to developing a sustainable governance and growth model for the state. This role, she believes, aligns well with the goals of ASSH to work towards standards and accreditation for simulation programs. She is keen to support ASSH further in this work.

She feels that she will contribute to the normalisation of simulation in education in NSW through the incorporation of simulation curricula into key programs being developed at state level. It is important that our professional society remains in touch with what is happening at all governance levels for simulation and she feels that as an executive committee member she is in a position to provide a perspective from NSW.

Stuart Marshall

ASSH Executive - Stuart Marshall

Stuart is a simulation educator and anaesthetist, predominantly working at Southern Health in Melbourne. He has been involved in the design, delivery and evaluation of a variety of courses in undergraduate, postgraduate and vocational areas, but mainly in interdisciplinary teamwork training courses.

For the last 6 years his responsibility has been to coordinate the research conducted within his centre as well as conducting clinical research in his anaesthetic role in two Victorian public hospitals. He is also currently undertaking a PhD in Human Factors via the University of Queensland into the effects of cognitive aids on team behaviours in medical emergencies.

He has chaired the abstract review process of the SimHealth conference for the last two years. During this time he has increased the numbers of reviewers and introduced feedback to both the authors and reviewers in an attempt to improve the pool of research expertise in the Australian simulation community. He believes he has a valuable insight into the place of simulation in health, through his complementary roles of education, clinical practice and research.

Statement of purpose: Stuart sees his role on the committee to be representative of both the educator and clinician; to ensure that ASSH supports simulation not just for simulation's sake, but to improve outcomes in the clinical setting. He believes that evidence of clinical improvement through simulation and the practical application of this new knowledge is crucial for the future safe delivery of health care. ASSH has a key role to play in this dissemination of research and to help new and existing centres develop best practices.

Tess Vawser

ASSH Executive - Tess Vawser

Tess has recently taken a position as Director of Clinical Education and Simulation Centres at Epworth HealthCare Victoria. She has an extensive background in the establishment and management of high-fidelity simulation centres, the coordination and training of facilitators and program development. For 2 1/2 years she was Simulation Manger at the Australian Centre for Health Innovation (CHI) at The Alfred in Melbourne and previously the Simulation Co-ordinator for 6 years at St Vincent's Melbourne.

She has been involved in the design and implementation of national and state simulation based training programs. In 2007 she was Project Manager for a DHS State wide initiative to design, deliver and implement Basic and Advanced Clinical Skills and Simulation Facilitator Courses, to over 220 Victorian clinical skills educators.

Tess comes from Critical Care Nursing Background in Peri operative and Emergency Nursing and for the past 13 years has been a national coordinator for the Emergency Life Support Course (ELS), a comprehensive 2-day weekend course.

Career Highlights

Educational Profile

Statement of purpose: As Tess has a strong commitment to interprofessional education, she believes she can help ensure that ASSH, especially through the SimHealth Conference, offers the opportunity to have all professionals from different disciplines learn “from each other and about each other in order to cultivate collaboration and professional insights”. BARR, H. (2001). U.K. Centre for the Advancement of Interprofessional Education.

Jennifer Weller

ASSH Executive - Jennifer Weller

Associate Professor Jennifer Weller MD, MClinEd, MBBS, FANZCA, FRCA.
Head of Centre for Medical and Health Sciences Education, University of Auckland
Specialist Anaesthetist, Auckland City Hospital

Jennifer's involvement with simulation-based education is longstanding and broad-ranging. She brings to the ASSH a strong research background, a broad perspective from experience across health professional disciplines, undergraduate and post-graduate, and across countries. High quality research is fundamental to the development of simulation-based education across Australia, and supporting and facilitating this is an important activity for ASSH to which she is keen to contribute.

Her involvement with simulation-based health professionals education began at the grass roots, with the arrival of the first full body, computerised anaesthesia simulator in New Zealand. Exploring its anatomy and circuitry, creating, implementing and evaluating courses at local, and international national level, and across different disciplines and contributing to conferences, instructor training, and strategic committees has provided her with a firm grip on the practicalities of SBE. Jennifer's research and educational qualifications underpin this working knowledge with theory and evidence. Much of her research involves simulation in one way or another, from evaluative research on course effectiveness, to teamwork, measurement scales, assessment and validity. She's currently leading a research programme in multidisciplinary operating room team training funded by Health Workforce NZ.

Relevant committee experience includes:

Statement of purpose: She contributes a broad understanding of the place of simulation in health professionals education, training and research, and an understanding of the drivers and barriers to developing the potential of simulation across the healthcare system. Jennifer's connections with the NZ simulation scene builds on existing collaborations and provides new perspectives on simulation-based education and research in Australia.

Elections

ASSH members have the opportunity to vote in the ASSH Election process. This year we had four vacancies for members of Good Standing. An Election notice was sent out to all ASSH members at the end of October 2011. On-line voting was available to select and nominate 4 members of good standing from the 10 nominees. Voting closed at 5pm (Eastern Standard Time) on Friday 25 November 2011.

DoHA Project

Non-Technical Skills Project for the Department of Health and Ageing

From July 1 2008 to April 30 2009, ASSH conducted an educational project on behalf of the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing. The project addressed utilisation of simulation in medical specialist training programs in respect to training non-technical skills (NTS), such as communication, teamwork and professional behaviours.

The key components of the project were as follows:

Report

Contact details

Ms Andrea Coulsell is the Society's Project Officer.

For further details, contact . Andrea's fax number is: +61 3 9787 6210.