TEL’s Simulation and Immersive Technologies programme team has successfully launched the national Becoming Simulation Faculty project at the annual Association for Simulated Practice in Healthcare (ASPiH) conference.

A workshop was held for conference delegates and stakeholders to discuss how the programme can be integrated into their local workforce educator development programmes, including exploration of how the face-to-face workshop can be configured to local faculty requirements and scheduled to promote equity of access across regional networks.

The Becoming Simulation Faculty blended learning programme is a key TEL deliverable to support the Long-Term Workforce Plan and the team is working closely with regional simulation leads and networks to embed the core course into existing faculty development work. This requirement is driven by the need to address the significant growth in use of simulation and immersive technologies, which promises to revolutionise health and care education along with the potential to deliver significant efficiencies compared to traditional classroom-based approaches.

The significant growth in use of immersive technologies is beginning to revolutionise healthcare education, and in 2023/24 we will continue to support their adoption. Technologies such as extended reality, combined with virtual learning environments, can support hybrid education and provides unique and innovate ways to help prepare the workforce to deliver high quality, safe care. During 2024/25 we will further expand the Virtual Hybrid Learning Faculty and national Simulation Faculty development programmes.

The programme is designed support colleagues across healthcare organisations as they explore the basics of education and learning with simulation and immersive learning approaches, and to provide a platform on which further local workforce educator development can be based. After completing the programme, colleagues will have a recognised credential that they can carry with them as they might move from one organisation to another.

The training will help educators, health professionals and technicians to design and deliver simulation to underpin growth in education capacity, including the increased use of immersive learning technologies and blended learning approaches.

The Core Course of Becoming Simulation Faculty consists of 6 eLearning topics and a face-to-face workshop which have been authored by a multi professional expert community. The elearning topics will be released in their entirety by early 2024, with the face-to-face workshops taking place later in 2024.

To find out more and access the training, please visit the Becoming Simulation Faculty programme page.