Sidelined during COVID-19: a narrative inquiry into how simulationists experienced the pandemic

Background In the simulation community, colleagues who are no longer clinically practicing were often proximal to the COVID-19 response, not working in the frontlines of patient care. At the same time, their work as simulationists changed dramatically or was halted. This research explored the experiences of those simulationists who have clinical backgrounds but did not provide direct patient care during the initial pandemic response. The aim of this study was to allow those simulationists to share and have their stories heard. Methods This qualitative research used a narrative approach to answer the research question: What were the experiences of those in the simulation community who did not contribute to the frontline patient care response during the early stages of the pandemic? A semi-structured questionnaire aimed at eliciting a story was disseminated through online simulation discussion boards. Data was collected through PHONIC with options to type or speak responses. Responses were analyzed using an inductive analytical process to identify themes or patterns in the narratives. Results Thirty-six respondents completed the survey between August 1, 2020 and November 30, 2020. Narrative arcs were identified that illustrated the events, actions, thoughts and feelings representative of experiences shared by many simulationists. Two major themes emerged: Challenges and Opportunities. Challenges included feelings of guilt; frustration; overwhelmed, stressed and exhausted; being away from the action, being unused and underappreciated. Opportunities included leadership (evolution and innovation), personal development, and being a part of something. Conclusions The findings reflect a snapshot in time of how simulation was viewed and used in the world during a pandemic through the personal stories of simulationists with clinical backgrounds who did not provide direct patient care. Sharing these narratives may inform future simulation development; however, it is vitally important that the emotions are recognized and acknowledged. Managers should ensure mental health resources and support are available to all staff, including those not deployed to the frontline.

Online Simulation Education for Audiometry Training

Purpose: The purpose of this clinical focus article was to describe a new online simulation program for pure-tone audiometry. Method: Fictional but realistic patient profiles and testing environments were created to teach students about hearing screening protocols and pure-tone audiology. The diversity of the demographics of the United States is represented throughout the program. The web app was created using HTML/JS/CSS with a Flask server backend and MySQL database. Results: The program allows students to learn the process of conducting a hearing screening and measuring audiometric thresholds using a web-based virtual clinical audiometer. The virtual audiometer includes standard audiometer features and allows for instruction based on standard guidelines. The diversity of the patients within the simulation program allows for discussions of diversity to be woven throughout the curriculum. Conclusions: The new simulation program is designed for use as a clinical training tool enabling undergraduate and graduate students to actively participate in hearing screening testing and pure-tone audiometry using any web browser. The program is also designed with the intent to improve pedagogical outcomes at the undergraduate and graduate level for communication sciences and disorders education for pure-tone audiometry by providing instructors with content that focuses on the diversity that is represented in the demographics of the United States.

Supervised Learning for Arrival Time Estimations in Restaurant Meal Delivery

Restaurant meal delivery companies have begun to provide customers with meal arrival time estimations to inform the customers’ selection. Accurate estimations increase customer experience, whereas inaccurate estimations may lead to dissatisfaction. Estimating arrival times is a challenging prediction problem because of uncertainty in both delivery and meal preparation process. To account for both processes, we present an offline and online-offline estimation approaches. Our offline method uses supervised learning to map state features directly to expected arrival times. Our online-offline method pairs online simulations with an offline approximation of the delivery vehicles’ routing policy, again achieved via supervised learning. Our computational study shows that both methods perform comparably to a full near-optimal online simulation at a fraction of the computational time. We present an extensive analysis on how arrival time estimation changes the experience for customers, restaurants, and the platform. Our results indicate that accurate arrival times not only raise service perception but also improve the overall delivery system by guiding customer selections, effectively resulting in faster delivery and fresher food.

Four Approaches for Implementing Interprofessional Education

Using Microsoft Teams, the students from Psychology and marketing at Upper Iowa University, create a marketing plan focused on proposing a product or service targeting older adults. The Michigan LEND program, engages a minimum of 4 disciplines in practice online simulation approaches to respond to a case study. At Wayne State University and University of Detroit Mercy, during a zoom visit with community dwelling 50+ old adults, students from 9 disciplines collaborate on recommendations, referrals, and resources to improve health and/or quality of life. Marquette University students from 10 health professions participate in a series of four half-day workshops, designed in alignment with the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) core competencies.

A SCOPE REVIEW ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF REMOTE TEACHING FOR ENGINEERING LABORATORY COURSES DURING THE PANDEMIC COVID-19

This article aims to carry out a scoping review of the implementation of remote teaching for engineering laboratory courses in higher learning institutions during the pandemic COVID-19. Outcome-Based Education (OBE) implementation has required the graduate to attain a minimum of twelve skills and attributes upon graduating from the engineering program; it includes the psychomotor skill involved in laboratory courses. The finding shows that it has various implementations in conducting laboratory courses during the pandemic. The implementation includes recording a video, conducting an online simulation to replace the experimental work, and transforming face-to-face activity into a virtual lecture, modelling, and simulation. The approach for the laboratory that uses software also has recorded videos, using open-source software similar to the software listed in the syllabus, and some institutions allow students to access the computers lab remotely. There are no physical experimental works carried out in the laboratory during the pandemic due to non-access to the lab. Students then are expected to learn from the video to grasp the knowledge and concept. This 'scope review' also found that they have not discussed the suitable assessment in evaluating the psychomotor skill during the pandemic. Therefore, this paper recommends conducting a study to determine the implementation of a laboratory course and investigate the effectiveness of the assessment conduct during the pandemic COVID-19 to obtain the course learning outcome and evaluate its psychomotor skill.