November 2016 NUI Galway Students Attend First Healthcare Simulation Programme Workshop

The first group of NUI Galway students undertaking the Postgraduate Certificate, Diploma and Masters in Medical and Healthcare Simulation recently attended a two-day workshop as part of their course. The hands-on interactive simulation based learning workshop was held at SIMWEST in Galway University Hospital.

The three postgraduate programmes are carried out through distance learning with one workshop and the participants at the first workshop came from as far afield as Chile. This distance learning programme is the first of its kind in Ireland and caters to the growing interest in healthcare simulation.

The students are from a variety of healthcare backgrounds including nursing, paramedic science, surgery, anaesthetics and medical education. They participated in designing and running high fidelity mannequin based simulations. They had opportunities to test out multiple task simulators, to make their own simulators and to develop their moulage skills during a special effects workshop.

Dr Dara Byrne, Senior Lecturer in Medical Education and Simulation, NUI Galway’s School of Medicine, said: “We developed this postgraduate programme to support the large number of healthcare professionals who are both interested and involved in simulation. Our amazing group of learners from all avenues of healthcare share their experiences and own expertise through interactive discussion boards which is an important part of the programme.”

The workshop was delivered by a multidisciplinary team with expertise in simulation based learning from both NUI Galway and Galway University Hospital.

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