Adaptation and use of media in an innovative simulation-based clinician training programme

Abstract

[...]medical students and doctors in training have missed out on months of essential training and career progression. [...]the use of media has evolved and expanded exponentially to deliver medical education remotely.1 Hargis and Wilcox discussed the potential use of media in medical education to enhance the learning environment.2 Different types of media possess unique characteristics and are feasible educational tools to promote learning. Video Videos possess unique characteristics over other media and are a richer medium compared with text, infographics and audio as they offer moving visual pictures.4 Videos uploaded to video-sharing platforms, such as YouTube, have demonstrated rapid and international reach, thus vastly expanding their impact within medical education.7 As SIMBA is a novel medical education training programme, we commence each session by showing an animated video example of participant–moderator interaction to familiarise participants with the SIMBA model (still images shown in online supplemental material 2). Social media Social media facilitates rapid knowledge sharing with the ability to reach an international audience and can be viewed as an extensive open-access resource in medical education.6 Social media platforms offer an informal learning environment, which fosters engagement and a real-time dialogue that traditional means of communication lack.8 Facilitating SIMBA simulation via WhatsApp greatly enhances interaction and engagement in comparison to traditional forms of teaching.3 The ubiquity of WhatsApp has made SIMBA widely accessible, with international interest and participation.3 Additionally, Twitter (@SIMBAsimulation) and Facebook are used to advertise SIMBA sessions and attract international health professionals to participate.