Immersive Training Experience Helps Teach Safe Opioid Prescribing
By: David C. Holzman
Submitted by: Valerie Fulmer

Simulation and immersive learning techniques appear to be particularly effective and powerful for teaching safe opioid prescribing, according to a new study. The research involved pain medicine fellows and anesthesiology residents at Stanford University—all trainees at the graduate level—working in a simulated outpatient pain clinic. There, a standardized patient actor played the role of a patient who meets the criteria of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) for an opioid use disorder, and is asking for an opioid refill to prevent withdrawal, having presented to the clinician with only one tablet of hydromorphone left. Read the full Pain Medicine News article here.

In the Age of Digital Medicine, the Humble Reflex Hammer Hangs On
By: Bret Stetka
Submitted by: Bob Bolyard

Receiving a diagnosis in 2017 — at least one made at a medical center outfitted with the latest clinical gadgetry — might include a scan that divides your body into a bread loaf of high-resolution digital slices. Your DNA might be fed through a gene sequencer that spits out your mortal code in a matter of hours. Even your smartphone might soon be used to uncover health problems.Yet nearly 130 years since its inception — after decades of science has mapped out our neuronal pathways — a simple knob of rubber with a metal handle remains one of medicine's most essential tools. I'm referring to the cheap, portable, easy-to-use reflex hammer. Read the full NPR article here.

Poster Winners: 2017 ASPE Conference
Compiled by: Todd Lash

Each year two categories of posters, research and innovation, are eligible for competition and recognition during the conference. Eligible posters are judged using criteria based on Glassick criteria for scholarship (Glassick CE et al, San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1997) and first-place and honorable mention prizes are awarded for each category. Details regarding the winning posters, as provided along with all poster submissions on the conference website, follow below. Congratulations to the winners!

The ASPE Standards of Practice are Live!
By: Karen Lewis, Standards of Practice Committee Chair

If you attended the ASPE Annual Conference, you know there was a lot of excitement about the announcement that the ASPE Standards of Best Practice (SOBP) were about to be published. The Standards of Practice Committee is thrilled to announce that the standards are now live at the Advances in Simulation website. You can read them here.

Media Article: How Anesthesia Residents Fare When Breaking Bad News to a Patient – 4 study insights
Commentary by: Eric Oliver
Submitted by: Valerie Fulmer, University of Pittsburgh

A study published in BMC Anesthesiology examined how anesthesiology residents break bad news in relation to critical incidents.YandaYazbeckKaram, MD, of the Lebanon-based Lebanese American University School of Medicine, and colleagues studied how anesthesiology residents broke bad news to patients through a simulator and through role-play situations.

Research Article: Meeting the Primary Care Needs of Transgender Patients Through Simulation
Lead author: Richard Greene
Submitted by: Todd Lash, Publications Committee Char

As reported in a Medical Xpress press release entitled “Transgender actors effective in teaching new doctors to provide respectful care,” by acting out scenarios commonly seen in the clinic, real-life transgender actors can help residents learn to provide more sensitive care to people with a different gender identity than the one they were assigned at birth. This is the main finding of a study published online June 15 in the Journal of Graduate Medical Education.

Media Article: Get Paid for Pretending to be a Patient
By: Chuck Otto
Submitted by: Cindy Bartman, Grand Valley State University

I’m a familiar face around my city’s medical center, where some know me as that closeted gay man who infected his wife with HIV or the hostile employee who physically threatened a co-worker in an act of road rage or the bipolar cocaine addict. Read the full Next Avenue article here.

Standards of Best Practice Laid Out for Patient-based Simulation
By: Carrie Bohnert

BioMed Central published a blog post by Carrie Bohnert about the publication of the ASPE Standards of Best Practice in Advances in Simulation. Carrie, the director of the Standardized Patient Program at the University of Louisville School of Medicine, is the Vice President for Operations on the ASPE Board of Directors as well as one of the authors on the publication. The blog entry, published on June 28, 2017, was the most-read entry on BioMed Central in the first week of July. The full entry can be read here.

TEDx Talk: I’m Proud of Lying to Your Doctor
By: Andrew Roblyer

When you think of medical school, what do you think of? Biology? Chemistry? Immunology? Andrew Roblyer thinks of empathy.

Media Article: Improving Surgeon-Patient Communication About High-Risk Surgery
Commentary by: Betty Ferrell
Submitted by: Valerie Fulmer, University of Pittsburgh

Best Case/Worst Case Communication - This novel project targets an important yet difficult clinical scenario: counseling patients facing high-risk surgery. To improve surgeon-patient communication in these situations, Kruser and colleagues developed a training program based on a "best case/worst case" (BC/WC) communication tool.

SP Video: Why Hospitals Hire People to Fake Being Sick
Submitted by: Marlena Dater, C3NY

This video was originally featured on seeker.com, which is a Discovery Channel website. The video about how medicine is taught by employing professional actors to act as sick patients in hospitals was part of an episode of their “Seeker Stories” web series about interesting and unheard-of stories. The video can serve as an introduction or as part of orientation to what SPs do. Watch the full video on YouTube here.

Research Article: Applying lessons from social psychology to transform the culture of error disclosure
Lead author: Jason Han
Submitted by: Kris Slawinski, Publications Committee

This article is a must-read for simulationists planning events revolving around patient safety issues. The authors focus on the psychological aspects of the healthcare provider at the center of a medical error, instead of the mechanics of the error. Realistic simulations should provoke learners to experience the “counterproductive thought patterns” that plague those who have been through such an actual event with a negative outcome, so that they can learn the coping mechanism before such a thing actually happens to them.

Nita Skillman receives Emerging Leader Award
Submitted by: Todd Lash, Publications Committee Chair

ASPE member and Educational Resources Committee member Nita Skillman is the Client and Simulated Patient Coordinator for the School of Health Sciences at Elon University, NC. As reported on the Elon University website on June 9, 2017, Skillman was honored with the Emerging Leader Award at the ASPE Conference in Alexandria, VA. Congratulations to Nita! Read the full article here.

Research Article: Patient safety attitudes of pharmacy students in an Ethiopian university: a cross-sectional study
Lead author: Tamrat Befekadu
Submitted by: Kris Slawinski, Publications Committee

Results of a survey completed by pharmacy students studying in Ethiopia revealed interesting attitudes about patient safety issues. The survey contained 21 items rated using a four-point Likert scale. One important conclusion arrived at by the authors is that a “standardized patient safety course should be considered …in the curriculum.” Read the full article in the Drug, Healthcare and Patient Safety journal here.

ASPE member Stephen Charles awarded AAMC fellowship
Submitted by: Todd Lash, Publications Committee Chair

ASPE Conference 2017 By the Numbers
By: Todd Lash, Publications Committee Chair

The annual ASPE Conference, “Building a Global Network to Expand Ideas and Knowledge,” will be held in Alexandria, VA, from Saturday, June 3 – Wednesday, June 7. In case you’re worried that you might have too much down time, we have totaled some numbers to demonstrate the diversity in program offerings.

Research Article: Effects of Communication Skills Training (CST) Based on SPIKES for Insurance-Covered Pharmacy Pharmacists to Interact with Simulated Cancer Patients
Lead Author: Manako Hanya
Submitted By: Kerensa Peterson, Publications Committee

What happens to patients whose typical course of treatment moves outside a doctor’s office or hospital and into the local pharmacy? Cancer patients have had treatment shifted from surgical hospital to outpatient services. A group of researchers in Japan recognized these patients were seeing their pharmacist more than their doctors after their cancer diagnosis because of the advancements in pharmaceutical treatment. It is understandable that pharmacists then bore a greater burden of educating patients about their treatment while also dealing with the psychological aspects of a cancer diagnosis.

Spotlight on Special Interest Groups (SIGs)
By: SIG Chairs
Compiled and submitted by: Todd Lash

Special Interest Groups (SIGs) are groups that work to strengthen the relationships, awareness, knowledge and skills specific to a particular aspect of SP practice. ASPE currently has four SIGs (GTA/MUTA, Hybrid, Interprofessional Education, and SPs Beyond Healthcare) that are all housed with the Educational Content Committee. In general all SIGs serve the following purposes:

Conference Announcement: ASPiH Conference November 6 – 8, Telford International Centre
Submitted By: Gemma Bell

The Association for Simulated Practice in Healthcare (ASPiH) conference is aimed at all health professionals who want to learn more about or develop their simulated practice. It's an opportunity to share experiences, innovations and the evidence base for simulation in education and training. If you work in the field of simulation, whether in clinical practice across all disciplines, university or the commercial sector, then this is the conference for you.

Research Article: SBIRT Training in Social Work Education: Evaluating Change Using Standardized Patient Simulation
Lead Author: Paul Sacco
Submitted By:Todd Lash, Publications Committee Chair

A group at the University of Maryland published a study in the Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions looking at the effectiveness of using standardized patients to teach alcohol misuse intervention skills, such as screening, brief intervention, and referral for treatment, to Masters in Social Work learners. Few studies have been published regarding the use of SPs in social work education, and this study reported evidence of increased use of the alcohol misuse intervention skills in practice after training. Read the full article here.