Simulation in healthcare has been for twenty years an emerging learning method in paramedical and medical training. It aims to improve healthcare quality and security. Beyond the possibility to learn healthcare procedures and acts, it teaches team-working focussing on non-technical skills (human factors). SimuCarePro-CRM aims to create tools for medical and paramedical training in order to train, in simulation, the non-technical skills necessary for team work in an emergency situation. To do so, the project will focus on the study of CRM concepts (Crisis Resource Management) through the creation of simulation scenarios validated by the academic world in a multidisciplinary context. This project also aims to develop tools to support and evaluate debriefings at the end of simulation sessions. It will integrate an online training platform to prepare those sessions, a reply to the recent conclusion that education based on a digital environment is beneficial for learners. The first target group will be last year students in nursing care, midwifery, specialisations and medical assistants, who will test the different online learning activities before participating in simulation sessions in a multidisciplinary team. The second target group will be simulation trainers involved in training and being part of simulation centres. The project will be divided in six activities related to the same intellectual output (the online training platform entitled “Simulation in Healthcare and Crisis Resource Management”): The first activity will be the acquisition of theoretical CRM concepts by trainers. The second one will be the technical implementation of the e-learning platform. The third one will be the production of online training modules about CRM concepts. The fourth one will be the creation of scenarios focussed on non-technical skills. The fifth one will be the implementation of scenarios in multidisciplinary teams, and the last one, debriefings and recommendations. The project will last two years, and be built in six steps: Preparation (CRM training and current situation), online learning of CRM concepts, identification by each partner of CRM concepts, CRM concepts validation during debriefings, analysis and synthesis and, finally, results formalisation. Project results will concern various aspects: The partnership between paramedical universities and “hautes écoles” (non-university colleges) will create academic bridges based on the learning of technical/non-technical skills while working on clinical judgement and simulation methods. The cooperation between different healthcare training institutions and the development of an interprofessional cooperation to test the scenarios based on the study of CRM will give the possibility to learn the different components of team management in a crisis situation and will improve the quality of learners’ training. The online platform will let healthcare professionals command CRM concepts before applying them in simulation activities. Impacts will be measured on target groups: Learners’ training will be completed by simulation training that includes multidisciplinary team management, which will make them more able to bring an adapted response to problems encountered on the field. The project will let instructors prepare the desired multidisciplinary approach in the partnership between academic poles. The free access to the training platform will make transfer to other training institution easier. SimuCarePro-CRM will also contribute to improving team management practices in a complex/emergency situation and give hospitals the possibility to solicit the training sector to develop a reflection on their practices and face concrete problems. On the long term, the project will contribute to: establish a CRM-oriented practice as a transversal skill, foster the exchange of permanent learning between training institutions for healthcare professionals (through the e-learning platform), promote simulation focussed on validated CRM concepts, develop simulation instructors’ and learners’ skills (through the platform), improve interprofessional collaboration in initial training and support healthcare professionals’ lifelong learning.
According to the WHO, one patient out of 300 is at risk of a “wound” or even death while undergoing healthcare, and 70% of medical errors are related to human factors. In order to reduce those risks, European and ministerial requirements recommend integrating non-technical skill learning in the initial and continuing training of all healthcare professionals. Non-technical skills, also called Crisis Resource Management (CRM), are defined in eleven key points: knowing one’s environment, anticipating and planning, calling for help, leadership, assigning workload, gathering available resources, communicating efficiently, using all available information, dedicating attention judiciously, assigning clear roles, using cognitive helps. The European partnership of the SimuCarePro-CRM project has developed an e-learning platform about CRM concepts https://simucarepro-crm.eu/plateforme/. This tool is dedicated to learners’ prior preparation simulation activities. The learning of these concepts using the digital tool and the latter’s impact on initial training are tested and validated by different target groups: last year nursing care, midwifery and specialisation students as well as assistant doctors. This test could only be carried out by the Belgian partners as all in-presence activities were forbidden in Portugal and in Romania during the health crisis. The platform ergonomics and the interest of the modules are evaluated by those target groups with an online questionnaire. The project results are varied: the partnership between paramedical bachelor colleges and universities created academic bridges based on technical/non-technical knowledge learning while working on clinical judgement and simulation methods. The cooperation between the different health training institutions and the development of an interprofessional cooperation to test the scenarios based on the study of CRM helped learn different components of team management during a crisis and improved the quality of learners’ training. The online platform helps (future) health professionals understand CRM concepts before transferring them in simulation activities. During the Covid-19 pandemic, most training activities in numerous European countries turned into virtual sessions. The “SimuCarePro-CRM” e-learning platform anticipates these new challenges and offers an alternative solution to maintain online training opportunities accessible to all in a digital age. Initially planned for two years but extended by six months due to the Covid-19 crisis, the project was developed in six steps related to the above-mentioned activities: preparation, online learning of CRM concepts, CRM concepts identification by each partner, CRM concepts validation during debriefings, analysis and synthesis and, finally, results formalisation. The project has had several significant impacts: learners’ training has been completed with a simulation training that included multidisciplinary team management, which increases their capability to respond in a suitable way to problems encountered in the field. Thanks to the project, instructors could prepare the multidisciplinary approach wished by the partnership between academic poles. Free access to the online platform makes it easier to transfer to other training institutions. SimuCarePro-CRM also contributes to improving practices in team management during an emergency/complex situation and gives hospitals the possibility to call to the training area to develop a reflection on their practice and face problems. On the long term, the project will contribute to: establishing the practice based on CRM as a transversal skill, fostering permanent learning exchanges between health professional training institutions (through the e-learning platform), promoting simulation scenarios focussed on validated CRM concepts, developing the simulation skills of simulation instructors and learners (through the platform), improving interprofessional collaboration in initial training and supporting health professionals’ lifelong learning.