UTSystemVideo (2014) UTRGV Smart Hospital [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6oqcrvvLpg
Introduction
The SMART Hospital is a simulation hospital run by the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Simulation-based education, a form of problem-based learning, is implemented here using the Guamard robotic human simulators. Learners from as young as middle school children to adult learners are invited to experience the SMART hospital. The Guamard human simulators at the SMART hospital can breathe and flat-line, blink, mimic real human expressions, and express their emotions. Human simulators are utilized to engage learners, increase motivation, improve learner communication skills, and provide training for medical skills including COVID-19 readiness.
Curiosity
In simulation-based education at the SMART hospital, curiosity is evoked by the use of authentic ill-structured medical problems or scenarios presented before learners are exposed to all relevant content. The human simulation education utilizes an instructional approach that is student-centered and fosters student engagement and motivation. Simulation sessions create opportunities for learners to stay engaged as they perform hands-on tasks, think critically, and make decisions similar to what they would do during a real medical event. Scenarios require learners to consider how they will communicate information and perform medical treatment. Learners strive to find solutions in a simulation environment where they practice and prepare for the demands of the real world and build the skills necessary for safety and effective medical care. Instructional designers utilizing simulation-based education are encouraged to create a curriculum that embraces scenarios that evoke curiosity while addressing complex problems that deepen the understanding of the content and support the development of higher-order thinking skills. This provides learners with the purpose and motivation for learning and makes the hard work worth it.
Positive Expectancies for Success
The SMART hospital employs simulation-based education to ensure learners start developing the required and necessary medically inclined skills at the high school level. In the simulation environments, high school learners are exposed to and could identify future career opportunities as they experience real-world simulated scenarios. Due to the constant practice of desired skills, whether individually or collaboratively, learners acquire the desired skills as they apply their knowledge to various medically inclined scenarios. In simulation-based learning, learners are motivated as the scaffolding of students’ knowledge building is applied and the atmosphere encourages cooperation and collaboration among learners, instructors, and community members. Learners get an opportunity to self-evaluate, watch their performance recordings, evaluate peer performances, and attend reflection sessions with facilitators or instructors to ensure progress. Simulation-based learning ultimately ensures that learners develop behaviors that become instinctual and second nature to them. This is especially beneficial during high-stress events. Learners could collaboratively work together to identify treatment or identify medical conditions for their human simulator patients. As a result, our learners are well-equipped to take various medical State exams. A number of our high school learners possess CNA, dental assistant, EMT technician, first-aid, pharmacy technician, and veterinary assistant certifications by the time they graduate. They are industry-ready and use their certifications to find quality employment while pursuing higher education. Simulation-based learning at the SMART hospital has proven to be an engaging resource that creates positive expectancies for success.
Meaningful and relevant to learner goals
At the SMART hospital, human simulation-based education utilizes an instructional approach that is student-centered and fosters student engagement and motivation. It employs authentic ill-structured medical scenarios prior to learners having all the relevant content. Learner engagement with the problem itself deepens the motivation learners need to do the hard work of complex problem solving (Wirkala & Kuhn, 2011). In this environment, learners can make mistakes, and express themselves without fear of the negative consequences or feedback that their speech, comment, or action might generate. When learners engage in a simulation, they feel safe and comfortable, and are more open to development, growth, and negotiating change. (Lateef, 2020) Since the human simulators at the SMART hospital are utilized in scenarios that mimic real-world medical problems, the environment promotes complex, relevant, and authentic learner experiences. (Edelson, Gordin, & Pea, 1999). The human simulators’ emotional states and speech can approximate realistic behavior which enables learners to become adept at interacting with real patients. Learners get to practice scenarios designed to provoke empathy and promote the use of reassurance and calming techniques when treatment is painful like an injection. Leaners are always surprised and excited when they discover that these human simulators possess drug recognition capabilities and real equipment can be used on them. Learners get to use medical equipment such as real needles, and medical devices such as defibrillators to enhance the realism of the medical scenario. These medical scenarios promote self-directed student learning that is relevant and meaningful to the learner. Furthermore, when it comes to assessment at the SMART hospital, learners are engaged in the authentic assessment of both process and product, including evidence-based recommendations, and problem resolution (Ertmer & Glazewski, 2015; Ertmer & Simons, 2006; Grant & Hill, 2006). Instructional designers using the SMART hospital are encouraged to create scenarios or problems that provoke critical thinking and problem solving which causes learners to draw from their experience, knowledge, research, and other available resources.
References
Reiser, R. A., & Dempsey, J. V. (2018). Trends and issues in instructional design and technology. Boston, MA: Pearson.
Keller, J.M. & Deimann, M. (2018). Motivation, volition, and performance. In R.A. Reiser, & J.V Dempsey (Eds.), Trends and issues in instructional design and technology (4th ed.) (pp. 78-86). New York, NY: Pearson
Grant, M. M., & Hill, J. R. (2006). Weighing the risks with the rewards: Implementing student-centered pedagogy within high-stakes testing. In R. Lambert & C. McCarthy (Eds.), Understanding teacher stress in the age of accountability. Greenwich, CT: Information Age.
Ertmer, P. A., & Glazewski, K. D. (2015). Essentials for PBL implementation: Fostering collaboration, transforming roles, and scaffolding learning. In A. Walker, H. Leary, C. Hmelo-Silver, & P. A. Ertmer (Eds.), The essentials of problem-based learning: Exploring and extending the legacy of Howard S. Barrows (pp. 89–106). West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press.
Ertmer, P. A., & Simons, K. D. (2006). Jumping the PBL implementation hurdle: Supporting the efforts of K–12 teachers. Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-based Learning, 1(1). Retrieved from http://docs.lib.purdue .edu/ijpbl/vol1/iss1/5
Lateef, F. (2020). Maximizing learning and creativity: Understanding psychological safety in simulation-based learning. Journal of Emergencies, Trauma & Shock, 13(1), 5–14. https://doi-org.oclc.fullsail.edu/10.4103/JETS.JETS_96_19
Bermudez, E. (2020, April 23). How to Improve Pediatric Patient Outcomes by Developing Communication Skills. Retrieved September 19, 2020, from https://www.gaumard.com/blog/pediatrics/how-to-improve-pediatric-patient-outcomes-by-developing-communication-skills/
Edelson, D. C., Gordin, D. N., & Pea, R. D. (1999). Addressing the challenges of inquiry-based learning through technology and curriculum design. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 8, 391–450. doi:10.1080/10508406 .1999.967207
Healy, M. (2005). Linking research and teaching: Exploring disciplinary spaces and the role of inquiry-based learning. In R. Barnett (Ed.), Reshaping the university: New relationships between research, scholarship, and teaching (pp. 67–68). New York: McGraw Hill/Open University Press
Wirkala, C., & Kuhn, D. (2011). Problem-based learning in K–12 education: Is it effective and how does it achieve its effects? American Educational Research Journal, 48(5), 1157–1186. Retrieved from http://dx.doi .org/10.3102/000283121141949
UTSystemVideo (2014) UTRGV Smart Hospital [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6oqcrvvLpg
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When I was a child, I fully committed myself to the subjects in school that I was most interested in. The high school electives I took were based on the goals I had for myself at that time. I am quite certain that I am not alone in this. I believe that the new generation of children are craving for real world experiences that connect what they are learning with the future they will be living. At the SMART Hospital, they are doing just that. The SMART Hospital is based out of the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. There, they have a simulation-based learning environment. The Guamard robotic human simulators used …
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Stemmed from the same principle as motivation, volition is a strategy used to help avoid distraction and a tool for goal-setting (Reiser & Dempsey, 2018). A simulation-based education such as the smart hospital can help students manage distraction and avoid making medical errors through a hands-on approach to learning that builds confidence with the skills learned. Students who have classes at the smart hospital are motivated and concerned with doing well because they are provided with immediate feedback by the dummies and positive feedback by teachers involved with their efficacy and mastery in the medical field. In addition, simulation learning allows learners to meet growth goals by deepening one's knowledge base through repetitive action or the…
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Simulation Based Motivation:
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