Q4. How does simulation-based training work? How can we maximise the benefits?
To answer these questions we need to hear from HelpMeSee, our collaborator for this Spotlight. Simulation-based training is at the heart of HelpMeSee's mission to 'Eradicate Cataract Blindness Worldwide Through Groundbreaking Simulation-based Training'.
We've already learned that there are millions of people who are blind today due to cataract, especially in LMICs, and the vast majority could be cured by surgery - if only there were enough trained health professionals.
Simulation-based training has the potential to be a game-changer for cataract blindness and for countless lives.
Here is a paragraph from HelpMeSee's latest news item (30 Septemebr) welcoming their new President and CEO Doug May:
'HelpMeSee’s training system combines photorealistic, high-fidelity virtual reality simulators and realistic haptic technology with instructor-led, competency-based curricula. Trainees complete extensive eLearning before beginning simulator training, then practice each surgical step hundreds of times, receiving objective performance assessment and individualized instructor feedback, and reach proficiency far sooner than traditional apprenticeship allows. HelpMeSee then works with partners to carry those skills into clinical practice and build lasting surgical capacity.'
It's really interesting to read that Doug's previous work was with FlightSafety International, which 'delivers professional world-class training to operators of business, regional and commercial aircraft'. It is no coincidence that flight training has provided much of the inpiration and know-how for the evolution of the patient safety movement over the past few decades, including simulation-based training.
(Thinking back to our previous Spotlight on patient safety and NCDs: most healthcare-related deaths and disability over the past 30+ years would never have happened if health services were designed to the same level as flight services.)
Best wishes, Neil
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org