The AEI committees have continued to realize their collaborative efforts over the last year with deliverables designed to innovate and strengthen simulation programs with patient safety at the core of our product and services. The following are biannual reports from these committees, reinforced with new membership last fall, demonstrating the capability of the consortium to address the challenges in simulation-based education and training and sustain the unfolding opportunities for better patient outcomes.
Administration and Management Committee
The key planning and preparation done by the Administration and Management (A&M) Committee throughout 2021 was realized with the successful implementation of its third annual MORE (Management, Operations, Research, and Education) Track program. The MORE Track had been this committee’s primary focus for the past several years with constructing a robust and sustainable framework to provide educational content for people who run simulation centers. During the 2022 Surgical Simulation Summit’s pivot to a virtual meeting, the concurrent MORE Track sessions were moved to plenary session timeslots for Friday morning’s Summit agenda, allowing for all meeting attendees to participate in this year’s sessions on data management and solutions and different types of surgical curricula.
MORE contributors and presenters from “Data Management and Solutions”―Allie Anderson, MS, RRT, CHSE; Zach Budesa, PhD; Jennifer Calzada, MA, MPH; Melissa Cappaert, MA; Melinda Klar, RN; and Megan Sherman, MAEdHD―are currently working on drafting a manuscript of their work to submit for publication.
An A&M Committee newsletter was released in April. In this issue, readers had access to a spotlight on the February Virtual Grand Rounds (VGR) session with Julie Hartman, DC, MS, CCRP; a recap of the 2022 MORE Track; a profile on A&M Committee member Tamara Owens, PhD, MEd, CHSE; Ms. Cappaert’s feature on Innovation and Administrators; and a DIY Model Recipe from the University of Toronto.
Virtual Grand Rounds Subcommittee representative Dr. Hartman was a featured presenter during this subcommittee’s inaugural February 10 VGR session on using social media as an educational tool. A podcast discussion with all session presenters was also recorded to expand on this topic for AEI members.
The A&M Committee continues to work with the ARC through its charge to provide representation as a surveyor for initial accreditation visits.
For more information on Administration and Management Committee activities, please contact Co-Chairs Jeffrey B. Howells, MS, MBA, and Melinda Klar, RN, or Vice-Chair Jesika S. Gavilanes.
Curriculum Committee
This past winter yielded critical results for the Curriculum Committee to meet its multiple project deliverables in 2022 for the benefit of the consortium.
The first milestone was the launch of the Interpersonal and Communication Skills Curriculum: Successfully Engaging Your Patient, Patient’s Family, and Colleagues in early May. The toolkit’s three modules, Breaking Bad News, Hand Offs, and Informed Consent, were piloted over the winter through Curriculum Committee members’ AEIs to ensure the product was ready for widespread distribution. The positive feedback on its design and utility allowed the Curriculum Committee to release the toolkit as scheduled. Additionally, in February this committee formed a group to develop the next toolkit module, Interns as Educators, by the end of 2022.
The Online Curriculum Development Tool (OCDT) Template, which will be launched in collaboration with the Faculty Development (FD) Committee this summer, was the second product piloted by this committee. This joint project employed multiple volunteer work groups to identify resources for the six-step process of developing a curriculum and, with staff, constructed multiple versions in order to determine that the fillable template version would be piloted on its effectiveness and value for AEI use.
The companion booklet for the OCDT template has been outlined and is being written by committee member and FD Committee Co-Chair Nehal Khamis, MD, PhD, MHPE. This resource will demonstrate how to design educationally effective education courses by providing a background of the six-step process with the criteria, its effectiveness, and the standardization of the curriculum development process.
For more information on the Curriculum Committee’s activities, please contact Co-Chairs Luis E. Llerena, MD, FACS, and James N. Lau, MD, MHPE, FACS, or Vice-Chair Edgardo S. Salcedo, MD, FACS.
Faculty Development Committee
The Faculty Development (FD) Committee has been, since its last report, realigning and advancing its agenda for committee projects at various developmental stages through its influx of new committee members.
The Online Curriculum Development Tool (OCDT) template was piloted through the Curriculum and FD Committee members’ AEIs over this past winter. The goal of the tool is to assist young faculty who need help with curriculum development. The tool will prompt the author to answer a series of questions to assist in the creation of a curricula, which will be built and aligned with the ACS-AEI Standards and Criterion on curriculum development.
The 2022 FD needs assessment survey, designed to build upon the work of the 2015 needs assessment study, is scheduled for release this spring.
Additionally, the FD Committee has a new project in the works to offer AEI members faculty development content that will be vetted through a committee peer review process for distribution via an AEI web page. The collection and review process for this information is currently under committee discussion.
The manuscript from the 2019 joint committee workshop, "Past Meets Future: Changes in Participant Views Related to Operative Skills Assessment following a Faculty Development Workshop,” is being retooled to submit for publication.
This committee will also be collaborating with the Technologies and Simulation Committee to develop a new format for the well-received Article of the Month Series.
For more information on the Faculty Development Committee’s activities, please contact Co-Chair Nehal Khamis, MD, PhD, MHPE, and Co-Chair Dmitry Nepomnayshy, MD, MSc, FACS.
International Committee
In late February, the International Committee held its first call with all incoming committee members and consultants to update them on the current work of this committee and discuss future projects for committee purview.
The Train-the-Trainer Course: Hybrid Minimally Invasive Surgical Techniques was held online in early May. Very positive attendee feedback from the 2021 inaugural course revealed that the scientific content was highly scored and the quality of online face-to-face discussions was only slightly lower, which fortified the faculty’s ability to repackage the course as online again in spring 2022. The 2022 course offered reading materials online from May 2-8 and hosted personal online meetings from May 9-12.
The latest ACS-AEI Consortium Quarterly International Newsletter was released to the consortium in February, and the next issue is scheduled for distribution this August. The international version’s content focused solely on the international simulation community for the promotion of these centers’ activities and to encourage collaboration in research, programming, training, and more. Past issues can be found on the Publications web page.
For more information on International Committee activities, please contact Chair Lars Enochsson, MD, PhD, or Vice-Chair Andrea Moglia, PhD.
