Board 162 - Program Innovations Abstract Doing Debrief Differently

Abstract

Introduction/Background An extensive faculty recruitment and development programme is run in the Yorkshire and Humber region to support the rapidly expanding simulation activity which is running in the region. A successful Train-the-Trainers in Simulation course has been run in one of the primary high fidelity centres for some time now, with a dedicated slot for debrief; however, feedback from participants had consistently noted a desire and perceived need for further training and supported practice in the art of debrief. However, the diverse geographical region covered and range of clinicians expressing an interest posed logistical challenges in running a face-to-face programme in addition to the existing work. Therefore, it was decided to develop a symmetric online web based debriefing session with interactive content and audience participation. Methods Several software delivery platforms were evaluated, including those advertised as dedicated webinar platforms. Many of these were found to have significant shortcomings which would have been restrictive for the content delivery that was planned. We had been using the new social networking platform Google Plus with Hangouts (Google Inc. Mountain View, California) for professional and personal communications and on further exploration of the features available, found this to be a comprehensive, reliable and user friendly interface. Content was created and loaded into the software, including presentations and real-time voting forms which were incorporated into the Drive section of the Google suite of applications. Video debrief examples and simulation scenarios were filmed in high definition and uploaded to YouTube and recruitment and communication were achieved using Gmail and Google Plus. Prior to the session, all participants were encouraged to test their own computer hardware and connectivity to foresee any potential problems. It was envisioned that participants could use a variety of web-connected devices including smartphones, tablet computers and traditional personal computers to access the session. Minimum participant system requirements were for a device with internet access capability through a browser which supports the Google Hangouts software, a webcam, speakers and microphone and internet connection speed of 2mbps or faster. In the event all used Microsoft Windows based computers. All were encouraged to access the session using the Google Chrome browser and those accessing from institutional premises to ensure appropriate permissions from network administrators were in place. The central server hosting (cloud) of the content negated any concerns about upload and download reliability for high definition content and synchronisation, with automatic quality adjustment for bandwidth within the software to facilitate those with slow internet connections participating. The ability to access and modify documents and web forms live within the session enhanced the interactivity with participants and the addition of a text ‘chat’ service provided a second channel for interaction and extra content. Feedback from the session was universally positive. Results: Conclusion This programme has demonstrated a feasible, reliable and easy to use content delivery platform and that faculty development in debrief skill can be effectively delivered in this fashion. There is a risk that those with limited experience or skill in using web platforms may be unable to access this and the Google Hangouts software was originally intended as a social networking tool which may deter some. It is planned to deliver further debrief training and practice sessions using this technology. Disclosures None.