July 15, 2025 • 36 mins
The BCIT simulation team shares their transformative journey from siloed departments to a unified center of excellence, culminating in their recent SSH accreditation as Canada's fourth accredited program. Carrie Meager and Heather Epp reveal how leadership support, psychological safety, and human-centered approaches created their successful simulation community.
• Evolution from fragmented lab-based learning across 11 buildings to a coordinated simulation program with standardized practices
• Moving beyond skills training to develop critical thinking, communication, teamwork, and clinical decision-making
• Building psychological safety at every level creates an environment where innovation thrives
• SSH accreditation process provided structure while identifying areas for quality improvement
• Focus on human elements through their 40+ simulated participant program addressing communication challenges
• Creative approaches like "cakeable moments" and SimPath faculty development promote psychological safety
• Leadership support from deans and directors was crucial for success
• Innovative virtual simulations address costly consumables in programs like Med Lab Sciences
The BCIT simulation team welcomes connections through LinkedIn or email and can be found at conferences like SimExpo and IMSH. They're happy to share resources and support others building simulation programs.
Innovative SimSolutions.
Your turnkey solution provider for medical simulation programs, sim centers & faculty design.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Disclaimer/ Innovative Sim (00:00):
The views and opinions expressed in
this program are those of thespeakers and do not necessarily
reflect the opinions orpositions of anyone at
Innovative Sim Solutions or oursponsors.
Thanks to Innovative SimSolutions for sponsoring this
week's episode.
Are you a healthcareprofessional or educator looking
to level up your trainingmethods?
(00:20):
Then you need to check out theBasics of Healthcare Simulation,
a dynamic foundational coursedesigned to introduce you to the
powerful world ofsimulation-based learning, from
mannequins to virtual reality.
This class breaks down thetools, techniques and strategies
that bring clinical educationto life safely, effectively and
realistically.
(00:40):
Whether you're brand new tosimulation or just want a
refresher course, this will giveyou the confidence and skills
to create engaging, high-impactlearning experiences.
Ready to revolutionize how toteach and train, reach out to
Deb Tauber at Innovative SimSolutions to set up your
training today.
Welcome to The Sim Cafe, apodcast produced by the team at
(01:04):
Innovative Sim Solutions, editedby Shelly Houser.
Join our host, deb Tauber, andco-host, Jerrod Jeffries as
they sit down with subjectmatter experts from across the
globe to reimagine clinicaleducation and the use of
simulation.
Clinical education and the useof simulation.
(01:25):
So pour yourself a cup ofrelaxation, sit back, tune in
and learn something new fromthe Sim Cafe.
Deb Tauber (01:40):
Welcome to another episode of The Sim Cafe.
And today we are so fortunatewe have the Canadians here, we
have BCIT and we have FaroozKandipour who's going to be
co-hosting, so we have CarrieMeager and Heather Epps.
Thank you so much for joiningus.
And how's everyone doing today?
We're doing great, reallyexcited to be here.
(02:01):
Yeah, thanks for having us.
Carrie Meager (02:01):
Thank you We're doing great, really excited to
be here.
Heather Epps (02:04):
Yeah, thanks for having us.
Ferooz Kandapoor (02:06):
Thank you.
Thank you, Deb, for allowing mealso to co-host this, and I'm
so proud to be a Canadianco-host of this episode and
having my colleagues here, soI'm really excited about this
podcast today.
Deb Tauber (02:20):
And you are all exhausted.
Heather and Carrie areexhausted from the SSH
accreditation journey andFrancis is exhausted from
returning from CSAM.
Ferooz Kandapoor (02:31):
That's correct .
Well, I'm very excited to be apart of this accreditation and
I'm here to just alsocongratulate the team, the BCIT
team, for the accreditation aswell, as this is a big even not
for them, but it's for theentire province of British
Columbia, so that's where I'm aswell, so it's for our entire
community, so very excited.
Carrie Meager (02:54):
That's really nice to say, heather.
It's been a journey for Heatherand I, and the BCIT simulation
team for sure, and I think we'rein this state of still
processing it and still can'tbelieve it.
Maybe, heather, what do youthink?
Heather Epps (03:07):
Yeah, it took me a little while even to post it to
the world on LinkedIn, becauseI think it was still sinking for
a little bit.
So, yeah, we are extremelyexcited to have achieved a great
milestone.
Deb Tauber (03:23):
Heather, would you like to tell our guests a little
bit about yourself?
And then, carrie, you can gonext.
Heather Epps (03:28):
Okay, sure, I am a nurse by clinical background
and worked in the emergency roomand ICU for a long time, but
have been teaching at BCIT forI'm not sure, actually a number
of years, I think seven or eightand I've been in a simulation
role there for the last fouryears, and so I'm the simulation
(03:51):
education lead for the Schoolof Health Sciences, which has
about 30 plus healthcareprograms underneath that
umbrella.
Carrie Meager (03:59):
Thank you, Okay, so I actually have a similar
story and background to Heatheras well.
My background is nursing and Ispent many years as an eMERGE
nurse and ICU nurse as well atVancouver General Hospital and I
shifted into the emergencynursing program at BCIT as a
(04:19):
clinical instructor and facultyabout 10 years ago and more
recently I think it's beenalmost two and a half years now
I stepped into the manager roleof the simulation program at
BCIT.
So Heather and I work veryclosely together.
We were definitely partneringand collaborating on the
accreditation process and we areworking together to continue to
(04:44):
build our simulation program atBCIT.
Deb Tauber (04:47):
Excellent.
Let's dive into the roots ofBCIT and its simulation team.
Can you share a brief historyof BCIT and walk us through how
the simulation team came to beand what was essentially the
spark that led to its creation,and how has it evolved over time
?
Carrie Meager (05:05):
Sure, I always enjoy talking about BCIT in our
program.
So the School of HealthSciences consists of 34
different health-relatedprograms at BCIT and the
programs are divided into fourdifferent focus areas or pillars
.
So we have our BSN program orour nursing program, which is
the largest program within theSchool of Health Sciences.
(05:28):
Specialty nursing and advancedcertificate programs are
diagnostic and lab and alliedhealth programs.
So we are one of the largestSchool of Health Sciences and
simulation programs in Canadaand I believe we're the fourth
SSH accredited sim program inCanada as well.
And simulation has actually beena part of the School of Health
(05:50):
Sciences for a really long time.
Long before we officiallystarted calling it simulation,
each program was already doingsome form of it in their own way
.
I think we actually got ourfirst high fidelity mannequin
back in 2007.
But even before then,simulation-like learning was
happening across the school,just not really in a coordinated
(06:11):
or standardized way in any way,and at the time I think it was
mostly lab-based learning.
It was very siloed and everyonewas doing their own thing in
their own way at their own time.
And because BCIT is deeplyrooted in applied hands-on
education, as a school we'vealways tried to mimic real-life
(06:33):
clinical environments or for ourstudents in some way.
So like even going back 40 or50 years, simulating clinical
practice has really been threadand woven into how we teach and
into our curriculum.
So just thinking back aboutwhat's changed over the last 15
or 20 years, I think, is reallyhow we approach simulation.
(06:55):
So we've shifted toward usingsimulation more intentionally,
not just for skills practice,but to support and build our
students' critical thinking andcommunication skills, teamwork
and clinical decision-makingabilities and, of course,
reflective practice.
And that's when we reallystarted to incorporate best
(07:16):
practice, like pre-briefing anddebriefing, into our simulations
.
So that's just a little bitabout the history.
But when it comes to thesimulation team, I just want to
make it very clear that this didnot happen overnight.
The team really started to takeshape about 10 years ago, when
we started to be more strategicin how simulation could support
(07:38):
our programs and our students,so not just in isolated labs,
but across the entire school.
Not just in isolated labs, butacross the entire school and we
realized we needed to be, weneeded to really move from
lab-based practice to somethingmore immersive, something more
structured and, of course,grounded in best practice and
(07:59):
our specialty nursing teamreally led the way there and the
timing was perfect as we werein kind of the early stages of
preparing to move into the newbuilding.
Specialty nursing formed someworking groups.
They developed a SIM strategythat really helped build
momentum, so not just for theirprograms but for simulation
across the school as a whole.
Another key thing that we liketo talk about is the support
(08:21):
that we had from our leadershipteam about is the support that
we had from our leadership team.
Our dean and associate deans atthe time and currently really
believe and believed insimulation and the value it
could bring to the studentexperience and they've really
helped drive that shift frominformal to more intentional.
And that's really when the simteam began to come together.
(08:43):
So currently about 75% of theprograms run simulations and the
team works really closely withfaculty and staff to design, to
implement and to roll out newsimulation experiences across
the school.
And it's been really excitingto kind of see how far we've
come over the last couple ofyears and how much simulation
(09:05):
has grown and now how recognizedit is as a core part of School
of Health Sciences at BCIT.
Ferooz Kandapoor (09:13):
That's great.
Carrie Meager (09:14):
I don't know, Heather, if you have anything
else to add.
Heather Epps (09:17):
I think the only thing that I would maybe add in
addition is we have quite alarge simulation team and that
is really because, as Kerrymentioned, we have a lot of
programs who are runningsimulation and in our journey to
try and unify them, we reallyhad to create some dedicated
(09:41):
roles.
So we really started to look athow can we invest in the human
aspect of simulation and reallymaking sure that we had people
who were not only championing itwithin their own programs but
really dedicating their time andenergy towards that.
Ferooz Kandapoor (09:59):
Great, any challenges that your team faced
during this unification andtransition, what was the role of
institutional leadership?
And also any moment that standsout for you guys that you can
remember or mention.
Carrie Meager (10:16):
I think one of the biggest challenges for us
bringing in a unified approachwas the peer size of our school,
with 34 different programs andeach programming program having
their own unique part of theirprogram and what they do.
So we really tried to buildthis one simulation program that
(10:38):
meets the needs of all programs, but it has been challenging to
ensure that each programremains their individual selves
but also meeting the standardsof practice with accreditation
and simulation and simulation.
That's been something thatwe've been really working on
over the last I would say twoand a half years or three years,
(11:05):
since moving into the buildingis to learn more about these
programs, to understand whatthey do, understand their needs
and then support them withbuilding different simulation
opportunities for their students.
I think we've also we recognizethat we are very lucky to have
the size of team that we have.
I know that is something thatwe hear a lot from visitors that
come into our space is wow, weare very lucky and we know that
(11:30):
we are.
We're very fortunate for thepeople that we have, but
sometimes it still doesn't feellike enough with all the
projects we have on the go andthe need across the school to
create those really neatlearning opportunities for our
students.
So those have been some of thebiggest challenges I think we've
had, you know, in our ownprogram.
(11:54):
Prior to moving into the newbuilding in the fall of 2022,
School of Health Sciences wasactually sprinkled and spread
across the campus and into 11different buildings.
So we were doing amazing workacross the school to create
these learning opportunities forour students, but we were all
doing our own thing in our ownway, with, what I said before,
(12:16):
no standardization or structuredin any way.
So we've really been trying tocreate one program, one way of
doing things and creating thatstandardization across the
school and building thissimulation community of
excellence that supports,obviously, our students and
(12:36):
faculty and programs within BCIT, but also that community around
us.
Deb Tauber (12:42):
Yeah, now pursuing accreditation like as if the SSH
accreditation is no small featand for such a big organization.
It was a journey for you.
Now, what are some of thebiggest lessons you learned
during the accreditation processfor BCIT's simulation program
and for other institutions thatare eyeing SSH accreditation?
(13:05):
What advice or insights mightyou share with them to help them
navigate the journey?
Heather Epps (13:11):
That's a great question, deb, and I feel like
we could probably have manyhours in this podcast to discuss
it, but I think some of the keythings that we learned along
the way are really the firstthing is creating that
foundation.
So we had been eyeing SSHaccreditation for many years,
(13:35):
but because we were stillworking in silos, we did not
think that we would be able toachieve it without having this
unified vision, and so we reallyhad to create that strong
foundation and make sure thateveryone was on the same page,
following the same bestpractices, and that took a lot
of time, as Carrie wasmentioning.
(13:57):
So once we were able toestablish that and we moved into
our new simulation center in2022.
So that was really kind of agroundbreaking moment of being
able to bring people together,create these resources that
everyone was using, and then, Iwould say, after we settled
(14:19):
because it took a little bit toget everybody used to working
together and being in a sharedspace then we really, over the
last year, had a concentratedeffort, and I think it's almost
like when you're getting readyto make a big life decision,
like buying a house or having ababy, you never feel like you're
(14:41):
ready, and so it actually took,I think, an outside person who
happened to be you, deb, andeven Farooz telling us you guys
are ready, you achieved thefoundation that you needed to,
and you have the capacity andthe ability to do this, and so I
(15:01):
think that was a spark for usand it really helped to motivate
us towards achieving this goaland realizing that we were ready
to do it, but that there wasstill a lot of work that needed
to be done.
And so I think you know you dowant to have people who are
dedicated to completing thatwork, making sure that you're
(15:25):
staying on track, having the youknow, the goal in mind, but
also breaking down the steps ina manageable way.
And so I think that was reallyimportant for me, especially as
the person kind of pullingthings together and almost like
project managing theaccreditation journey was really
(15:48):
being able to figure out okay,what is the next step, okay, now
, what am I trying to accomplish?
And I would say, having a coachor someone there to support you
through that.
So, deb, your supportthroughout the process was
really invaluable.
I don't think that we wouldhave been able to achieve it in
(16:10):
the time that we did withouthaving someone there to kind of
guide us through that.
And so I think what thatallowed us to do was really a
validate that we were on theright track and we were
following best practices.
The accreditation process, Ithink, also highlighted still
(16:30):
some gaps that we had that weneeded to fill, and that was
really important for us and itreally helped us kind of focus
in on this quality improvementapproach and really use that
sort of thinking systems,thinking all of those things to
bring all those pieces together.
And so I think my biggesttakeaway from that is SSH
(16:54):
accreditation, especially for anorganization as large as ours,
is.
It's a marathon, it mightactually be an ultra marathon,
but you kind of have to keepmotivated, stay positive and
really not get too far into theweeds of it, because you can
completely get off trail andlose your way if you do that.
(17:16):
So again, having someone thereto kind of point you in the
right direction and pull youback onto the journey is
extremely helpful.
Deb Tauber (17:27):
Well, thank you.
It was a pleasure and an honorto be with you.
It was really.
You guys were fantastic to workwith.
Ferooz Kandapoor (17:36):
I was constantly getting these
compliments that we say you know, PCI.
There was always every time wehad a chance to talk and she was
saying they're an amazing teamto work with and so glad that
I'm working with them.
And I don't know how long ittook, I don't remember from the
time that you started to finish,but I think this was the
quickest, the shortest one thatI can remember because I've been
(17:58):
through accreditation in thepast with other organizations
but I felt like it was veryquick compared to but I don't
know how many- men's was it intotal, I'm glad that you felt
that for me.
Heather Epps (18:11):
I'm an outsider, I wasn't but well, I think it was
a long time coming.
I mean we had started talksabout accreditation before we
even moved into the building, soit's been a conversation on our
minds for five years.
Yeah, I think we met with DebCarrie July last year, or maybe
(18:32):
it was spring of last year.
Carrie Meager (18:35):
Well, I think it was spring of last year.
Well, I think it was spring oflast year and I remember we met
with you, deb, and you wereencouraging us, based off of
what we shared and where we wereat in the process, that we
could apply for the Julyapplication.
Remember that, heather, and wehad a moment in time where we
thought that, yes, we cantotally do this.
(18:56):
And then I think we took alittle bit of a step back and
reflected on the conversationand realized that probably we
needed a little bit more timeand a little bit more attention
and support from the rest of theteam, just because of the
uniqueness of our school and howbig we are, and we set the
intention that we would worktowards the February application
(19:18):
.
Ferooz Kandapoor (19:19):
That's fantastic.
Carrie Meager (19:20):
Yeah, I think another big thing for us to just
to add to what Heather hasalready said is what's been key
for us being successful,building this one simulation
program and achievingaccreditation is just the
leadership support that we'vehad and our dean, Lisa, and our
associate deans they believe inus and they trust our expertise
(19:43):
and our abilities and that'sbeen huge.
So we've been able to do ourjobs and build this program and
ask for different things anddifferent resources and they've
supported us through that entireprocess and they see the value
of simulation and what it bringsto the student experience and
(20:03):
if we didn't have that supportwe would not be the program
today and we wouldn't be wherewe are today.
So that's one thing that Ithink has been key and something
that I've been really thankfulfor is knowing that we have
support behind us and kind ofmoving towards that shared
vision and that goal of creatinga simulation community of
excellence at BCIT.
Deb Tauber (20:25):
Yeah, and I was so fortunate to get to meet your
team at the Diamond Ball.
And you know just like you said, every single person that I met
, one was just nicer and youknow, more wonderful than the
next.
Just tone at the top right.
Carrie Meager (20:41):
Yeah, we are very lucky to have the team that
we we have.
You know, we have so muchpassion, so much motivation
maybe too much motivation withsome of the projects, which is
every day it seems like we'readding something new.
But I also believe that that'swhy we've been successful, too
is because of the team we havein that shared vision and goals
(21:03):
and and all of us wanting tobuild something special and
unique and being leaders in thesimulation world and
contributing in so manydifferent ways.
I think that's kind of what'sreally special about our team.
Ferooz Kandapoor (21:24):
I think one thing that I just noticed and
I've worked and to know many ofyour teammates over the past
many years that I've beeninvolved with simulation so one
thing that I noticed also everytime I talk to any, whether it's
a simulation technologyspecialist, whether they're
educators they always you canfeel immediately that they have
the support of their managers.
And then I know you guys aretalking about your leadership
(21:44):
and Dean and and so that supportis not stops at the Dean and
it's continues down to down toyour team as well.
That's what you feel and that'sin the enthusiasm that you
mentioned earlier.
That is sometimes too much.
It's just they feel thatsupport is there so they can be
more creative, they could bemore contributing towards the
(22:05):
and they can bring their ideas,and that's why you see overwhelm
of like ideas.
That's what I think, but that'sthe way, because I felt always
that they feel that somebodyelse is supporting them with
their ideas.
So so that layers is built in.
I think that culture iscultivated in the entire program
.
That's what my take is anytimeI see a meeting or visiting your
(22:27):
center.
Heather Epps (22:28):
So kudos to all of you.
Well, and Cruz, I think youbring up a great point and Kerry
mentioned this as well iseverybody sees the value in the
people that are contributing tosimulation, because sometimes
you know you can be at aninstitution and people think
that it's the technology thatmakes that simulation center
(22:51):
special.
Technology that makes thatsimulation center special.
And don't get me wrong, we havea beautiful simulation center
and we have a lot of amazingtechnology, but we really do
have the people necessary tomake that vision come to life.
And so I can't say enough.
Ferooz Kandapoor (23:08):
It's the people using this technology to
run it.
Yeah, it's not the technologythat runs it, so speaking of
technology.
I know the technology is alwaysevolving and BCIT is known to
be the cutting edge on thatfront.
Are there any specificsimulation technology methods or
particularly that you'reexcited or proud of, Maybe a
(23:32):
favorite story or example thatyou can share with us that those
technologies transformed theexperience of your learners?
Heather Epps (23:42):
Yeah, and again, I think we do have a lot of very
cool and interesting technology,but I would say the most
exciting things that have beenhappening at BCIT recently have
been more related to addingagain that human aspect.
So we've launched our in-housesimulated participant program
(24:05):
and so we now have over 40, Ithink I know we're in the middle
of interviews, so the number isgrowing.
But we have many amazing peoplein our simulated participant
program and that has actuallyspurred a lot of the different
health sciences programs tostart incorporating more
simulated participants intotheir simulations, which has
(24:28):
been really amazing.
And we've been using them in alot of unique ways to really
engage our learners.
And so what we've noticed,maybe coming out of the pandemic
I don't know if that was anaspect or it's just the way of
the world now is students cominginto our programs have a really
hard time with communicationand sometimes even really basic
(24:52):
communication.
Really hard time withcommunication and sometimes even
really basic communication,like picking up a phone and
calling another healthcareprofessional to give, you know
report or take, or you know anorder, ask for an order, things
like that.
And so we've actually made aconcentrated effort in creating
a lot of communication stylesimulations, and so RSPs are
(25:13):
playing other healthcareprofessionals.
We've been incorporating someanti-discrimination simulations,
because our learners also arereally keen about being
advocates in their communitiesand within their institutions
that they're working in, and sowe've been creating a lot of
(25:33):
those types of simulations.
And then I would say, becausewe're using a lot more SPs,
we're looking a lot more intodifferent task trainers and you
know how can we combine thathuman aspect with the technology
that's available?
So we've been really looking ata lot of different avenues to
(25:56):
do that.
And then some other things Ithink that have been really
unique or special for ourprogram is we've been using some
of the platforms and differentsoftware technologies to build
our own virtual simulations.
So we have Virtual Pulse, whichhas been around for a long time
(26:19):
, but we're using a lot of morekind of low fidelity simulations
, and so some really interestingthings are coming out of our
Med Lab Sciences program.
We're building an interactiveheme analyzer.
There's a lot of consumablesthat cost a lot of money, and so
we're trying to mimic, simulatedifferent instrumentation,
(26:45):
different pieces of equipment.
That would normally take a lotof these different solutions and
consumables and create kind ofvirtual environments around that
.
So those are some of the kindof key things that I'm thinking
about.
Carrie, do you have any other?
Carrie Meager (27:04):
Well, I was thinking about.
Something that you've beeninstrumental with is the SimPath
workshops that help with our.
Sorry I'm putting you on a spot, but it is really incredible
what you have done aroundSimPath and creating
opportunities for our faculty tolearn and grow as facilitators
(27:25):
with simulation.
So I think that you shouldshare a little bit more about
that.
Heather Epps (27:30):
Yeah, I guess it's okay.
You can totally put me on thespot.
Carrie Meager (27:34):
I'm totally putting you on the spot, but
it's something that I'm veryproud of and something you are
very proud of, and I've had theopportunity to watch you grow
those workshops and build themfrom the ground up.
Heather Epps (28:07):
And probably one of the most rewarding parts of
my job I think I actually don'tknow the exact number anymore,
but it's over 700 or 800 facultyas well as we have a lot of
clinical instructors and so wetry to encourage them to take
these faculty developmentworkshops.
And the other challenge is weoffer them as interprofessional
(28:30):
workshops, so we don't want tojust focus the interactivity
within the workshop on oneprofession.
So we use a lot of differentcreative things to engage people
.
We try to use examples, evenoutside of healthcare, to get
people thinking about debriefingconcepts or pre-briefing
(28:52):
concepts.
We like to use the GreatCanadian Baking Show as an
example for how you maybe youcould pre-brief something if we
get them to do an example of howwould you pre-brief the Great
Canadian Baking Show if you weregoing to use it as a simulation
versus the ready set bakepre-brief that they normally get
(29:15):
.
So, yeah, just kind of comingup with creative ways to engage
faculty and bring everyonetogether so that they can learn
concepts without feeling likeone profession is being singled
out or put above another.
Deb Tauber (29:30):
You know, what I really feel like you guys do an
excellent job at is creating apsychologically safe environment
all over, from just everywhere.
Not, you know, for your faculty, your leadership.
So because it's sopsychologically safe, people
aren't afraid to with a new ideawith a new idea.
Ferooz Kandapoor (29:58):
Yeah, yeah, I had I toured your center uh last
year.
I think it's due again to comein.
So much change, change, so much.
So many things changed.
I'd like to come in and seeespecially those innovations and
and those uh creative ideasthat you guys are doing.
I want to come in and check outand see, learn uh, some things
new.
That's, that's fantastic.
Heather Epps (30:12):
Yes, we would love to have you, and we want Deb to
come and visit too, because wefeel like she's been a part of
it for the last year but hasn'tactually been able to tour with
us?
Deb Tauber (30:24):
Yeah, can't wait.
Well, thank you.
Now, as we wrap up, what finalthoughts or words of inspiration
would you like to leave ourlisteners with about the power
of simulation and in educationin the future of BCIT's program?
Carrie Meager (30:40):
Heather, you want to jump in, you want to
start us off.
Heather Epps (30:43):
Sure, I think you know, for us, as we've mentioned
throughout this podcast, thisconversation is at BCIT we
really do have a vision of acommunity and a center of
excellence.
So when we brought all of ourprograms together to create a
(31:04):
unified simulation strategy,that was what we decided to
focus on and put first.
And so our vision is to createa community and center of
excellence.
And so I think, Farooz, to whatyou were talking about with the
psychological safety piece, andwhat we've been talking about
the whole time is, you really dohave to give attention to the
(31:28):
people that are deliveringsimulations, designing
simulations, setting upsimulations, participating in
simulations, as well assupporting that movement.
And so, yeah, I think, just youknow, making sure that
community is always at theforefront of your minds.
Carrie Meager (31:46):
Yeah, and just to add to, you know it took us
many, many years to get to wherewe are today.
It didn't happen overnight, andI think that's important if you
are someone who's starting tobuild a simulation program or in
the early days and you feellike you have this massive
mountain to climb and there's somany things to learn and so
(32:09):
many things to do and so manythings to build.
It took us a really long timeto get to where we are today and
we still don't feel like we arewhere we want to be we still
have so much to do and so muchto learn and so many places
where we can improve and dothings differently.
It's something that will just beongoing for us.
(32:30):
We are a team that has built alot of resources and are very
open to sharing and supporting,so if you're in that space where
you're overwhelmed and youdon't know what to do and you
need help, please don't hesitateto reach out to us.
We would enjoy supporting youand hearing your stories and
offering any tips or tricks orthings that we've been through
(32:52):
along the way over this I don'tknow 10 to 15 year journey.
Heather Epps (32:56):
we've been on.
One thing that we like to dowith our SimTech team is we have
cakeable offenses.
So if anybody happens to make amistake that is not
unintentional and they want tomake sure that the team
recognizes that they're sorry,we get them to bring in a cake.
Deb Tauber (33:18):
I love that yeah.
Heather Epps (33:21):
I have brought in many cakes so we can just
celebrate as a team and itdoesn't become something that's
horrendous.
It's something that we can alltalk about and and enjoy some
cake while I love that, cakeablemoments, I I will remember
cakeable moments.
Ferooz Kandapoor (33:40):
I made a note of that.
So that's a great way of, uh,you know, working with a team
and just allowing that.
Again, psychological safety isthat's cakeable moments.
So For those of our listenersthat are inspired by this work
and us in the province of BC andCanada and beyond, what is the
best way for our listeners toget in touch with you guys if
(34:03):
they have any questions orwanted to learn more?
Carrie Meager (34:06):
Yeah, that's a great question.
So Heather and I are both onLinkedIn, so that would be a
great way to connect with us.
Our BCIT School of HealthSciences website, I believe, has
my contact information, soCarrie's information on there
and through email.
I think Heather and I would behappy to share our emails as
well.
Ferooz Kandapoor (34:25):
And we will make sure that we put all of
your contact as well in theshow's notes and we'll share
that as well.
Carrie Meager (34:33):
Heather and I often attend conferences as well
, so we have SimExpo coming upin November and IMSH in January.
We hope to be there as well, sohappy to connect and network at
those events as well.
Disclaimer/ Innovative Si (34:46):
Great .
Deb Tauber (34:48):
Yes, thank you.
You guys will be celebrated atthe Diamond Ball.
We hope, so we're lookingforward to that.
All right, well, with that wewill conclude, and I want to
thank everyone for being heretoday and happy simulating.
Disclaimer/ Innovative S (35:06):
Thanks to Innovative Sim Solutions for
sponsoring this week's podcast.
With over 50 years ofexperience, they'll bring your
next simulation center to lifewith ease, confidence, while
saving you time and money.
Contact them today.
Thanks for joining us here atThe Sim Cafe.
(35:30):
We hope you enjoyed.
Visit us at www.
innovativesimsolutions.
com and be sure to hit that likeand subscribe button so you
never miss an episode.
Innovative Sim Solutions isyour one-stop shop for your
simulation needs.
A turnkey solution.
The views and opinions expressed in
this program are those of thespeakers and do not necessarily
reflect the opinions orpositions of anyone at
Innovative Sim Solutions or oursponsors.
Thanks to Innovative SimSolutions for sponsoring this
week's episode.
Are you a healthcareprofessional or educator looking
to level up your trainingmethods?
(00:20):
Then you need to check out theBasics of Healthcare Simulation,
a dynamic foundational coursedesigned to introduce you to the
powerful world ofsimulation-based learning, from
mannequins to virtual reality.
This class breaks down thetools, techniques and strategies
that bring clinical educationto life safely, effectively and
realistically.
(00:40):
Whether you're brand new tosimulation or just want a
refresher course, this will giveyou the confidence and skills
to create engaging, high-impactlearning experiences.
Ready to revolutionize how toteach and train, reach out to
Deb Tauber at Innovative SimSolutions to set up your
training today.
Welcome to The Sim Cafe, apodcast produced by the team at
(01:04):
Innovative Sim Solutions, editedby Shelly Houser.
Join our host, deb Tauber, andco-host, Jerrod Jeffries as
they sit down with subjectmatter experts from across the
globe to reimagine clinicaleducation and the use of
simulation.
Clinical education and the useof simulation.
(01:25):
So pour yourself a cup ofrelaxation, sit back, tune in
and learn something new fromthe Sim Cafe.
Deb Tauber (01:40):
Welcome to another episode of The Sim Cafe.
And today we are so fortunatewe have the Canadians here, we
have BCIT and we have FaroozKandipour who's going to be
co-hosting, so we have CarrieMeager and Heather Epps.
Thank you so much for joiningus.
And how's everyone doing today?
We're doing great, reallyexcited to be here.
(02:01):
Yeah, thanks for having us.
Carrie Meager (02:01):
Thank you We're doing great, really excited to
be here.
Heather Epps (02:04):
Yeah, thanks for having us.
Ferooz Kandapoor (02:06):
Thank you.
Thank you, Deb, for allowing mealso to co-host this, and I'm
so proud to be a Canadianco-host of this episode and
having my colleagues here, soI'm really excited about this
podcast today.
Deb Tauber (02:20):
And you are all exhausted.
Heather and Carrie areexhausted from the SSH
accreditation journey andFrancis is exhausted from
returning from CSAM.
Ferooz Kandapoor (02:31):
That's correct .
Well, I'm very excited to be apart of this accreditation and
I'm here to just alsocongratulate the team, the BCIT
team, for the accreditation aswell, as this is a big even not
for them, but it's for theentire province of British
Columbia, so that's where I'm aswell, so it's for our entire
community, so very excited.
Carrie Meager (02:54):
That's really nice to say, heather.
It's been a journey for Heatherand I, and the BCIT simulation
team for sure, and I think we'rein this state of still
processing it and still can'tbelieve it.
Maybe, heather, what do youthink?
Heather Epps (03:07):
Yeah, it took me a little while even to post it to
the world on LinkedIn, becauseI think it was still sinking for
a little bit.
So, yeah, we are extremelyexcited to have achieved a great
milestone.
Deb Tauber (03:23):
Heather, would you like to tell our guests a little
bit about yourself?
And then, carrie, you can gonext.
Heather Epps (03:28):
Okay, sure, I am a nurse by clinical background
and worked in the emergency roomand ICU for a long time, but
have been teaching at BCIT forI'm not sure, actually a number
of years, I think seven or eightand I've been in a simulation
role there for the last fouryears, and so I'm the simulation
(03:51):
education lead for the Schoolof Health Sciences, which has
about 30 plus healthcareprograms underneath that
umbrella.
Carrie Meager (03:59):
Thank you, Okay, so I actually have a similar
story and background to Heatheras well.
My background is nursing and Ispent many years as an eMERGE
nurse and ICU nurse as well atVancouver General Hospital and I
shifted into the emergencynursing program at BCIT as a
(04:19):
clinical instructor and facultyabout 10 years ago and more
recently I think it's beenalmost two and a half years now
I stepped into the manager roleof the simulation program at
BCIT.
So Heather and I work veryclosely together.
We were definitely partneringand collaborating on the
accreditation process and we areworking together to continue to
(04:44):
build our simulation program atBCIT.
Deb Tauber (04:47):
Excellent.
Let's dive into the roots ofBCIT and its simulation team.
Can you share a brief historyof BCIT and walk us through how
the simulation team came to beand what was essentially the
spark that led to its creation,and how has it evolved over time
?
Carrie Meager (05:05):
Sure, I always enjoy talking about BCIT in our
program.
So the School of HealthSciences consists of 34
different health-relatedprograms at BCIT and the
programs are divided into fourdifferent focus areas or pillars
.
So we have our BSN program orour nursing program, which is
the largest program within theSchool of Health Sciences.
(05:28):
Specialty nursing and advancedcertificate programs are
diagnostic and lab and alliedhealth programs.
So we are one of the largestSchool of Health Sciences and
simulation programs in Canadaand I believe we're the fourth
SSH accredited sim program inCanada as well.
And simulation has actually beena part of the School of Health
(05:50):
Sciences for a really long time.
Long before we officiallystarted calling it simulation,
each program was already doingsome form of it in their own way
.
I think we actually got ourfirst high fidelity mannequin
back in 2007.
But even before then,simulation-like learning was
happening across the school,just not really in a coordinated
(06:11):
or standardized way in any way,and at the time I think it was
mostly lab-based learning.
It was very siloed and everyonewas doing their own thing in
their own way at their own time.
And because BCIT is deeplyrooted in applied hands-on
education, as a school we'vealways tried to mimic real-life
(06:33):
clinical environments or for ourstudents in some way.
So like even going back 40 or50 years, simulating clinical
practice has really been threadand woven into how we teach and
into our curriculum.
So just thinking back aboutwhat's changed over the last 15
or 20 years, I think, is reallyhow we approach simulation.
(06:55):
So we've shifted toward usingsimulation more intentionally,
not just for skills practice,but to support and build our
students' critical thinking andcommunication skills, teamwork
and clinical decision-makingabilities and, of course,
reflective practice.
And that's when we reallystarted to incorporate best
(07:16):
practice, like pre-briefing anddebriefing, into our simulations
.
So that's just a little bitabout the history.
But when it comes to thesimulation team, I just want to
make it very clear that this didnot happen overnight.
The team really started to takeshape about 10 years ago, when
we started to be more strategicin how simulation could support
(07:38):
our programs and our students,so not just in isolated labs,
but across the entire school.
Not just in isolated labs, butacross the entire school and we
realized we needed to be, weneeded to really move from
lab-based practice to somethingmore immersive, something more
structured and, of course,grounded in best practice and
(07:59):
our specialty nursing teamreally led the way there and the
timing was perfect as we werein kind of the early stages of
preparing to move into the newbuilding.
Specialty nursing formed someworking groups.
They developed a SIM strategythat really helped build
momentum, so not just for theirprograms but for simulation
across the school as a whole.
Another key thing that we liketo talk about is the support
(08:21):
that we had from our leadershipteam about is the support that
we had from our leadership team.
Our dean and associate deans atthe time and currently really
believe and believed insimulation and the value it
could bring to the studentexperience and they've really
helped drive that shift frominformal to more intentional.
And that's really when the simteam began to come together.
(08:43):
So currently about 75% of theprograms run simulations and the
team works really closely withfaculty and staff to design, to
implement and to roll out newsimulation experiences across
the school.
And it's been really excitingto kind of see how far we've
come over the last couple ofyears and how much simulation
(09:05):
has grown and now how recognizedit is as a core part of School
of Health Sciences at BCIT.
Ferooz Kandapoor (09:13):
That's great.
Carrie Meager (09:14):
I don't know, Heather, if you have anything
else to add.
Heather Epps (09:17):
I think the only thing that I would maybe add in
addition is we have quite alarge simulation team and that
is really because, as Kerrymentioned, we have a lot of
programs who are runningsimulation and in our journey to
try and unify them, we reallyhad to create some dedicated
(09:41):
roles.
So we really started to look athow can we invest in the human
aspect of simulation and reallymaking sure that we had people
who were not only championing itwithin their own programs but
really dedicating their time andenergy towards that.
Ferooz Kandapoor (09:59):
Great, any challenges that your team faced
during this unification andtransition, what was the role of
institutional leadership?
And also any moment that standsout for you guys that you can
remember or mention.
Carrie Meager (10:16):
I think one of the biggest challenges for us
bringing in a unified approachwas the peer size of our school,
with 34 different programs andeach programming program having
their own unique part of theirprogram and what they do.
So we really tried to buildthis one simulation program that
(10:38):
meets the needs of all programs, but it has been challenging to
ensure that each programremains their individual selves
but also meeting the standardsof practice with accreditation
and simulation and simulation.
That's been something thatwe've been really working on
over the last I would say twoand a half years or three years,
(11:05):
since moving into the buildingis to learn more about these
programs, to understand whatthey do, understand their needs
and then support them withbuilding different simulation
opportunities for their students.
I think we've also we recognizethat we are very lucky to have
the size of team that we have.
I know that is something thatwe hear a lot from visitors that
come into our space is wow, weare very lucky and we know that
(11:30):
we are.
We're very fortunate for thepeople that we have, but
sometimes it still doesn't feellike enough with all the
projects we have on the go andthe need across the school to
create those really neatlearning opportunities for our
students.
So those have been some of thebiggest challenges I think we've
had, you know, in our ownprogram.
(11:54):
Prior to moving into the newbuilding in the fall of 2022,
School of Health Sciences wasactually sprinkled and spread
across the campus and into 11different buildings.
So we were doing amazing workacross the school to create
these learning opportunities forour students, but we were all
doing our own thing in our ownway, with, what I said before,
(12:16):
no standardization or structuredin any way.
So we've really been trying tocreate one program, one way of
doing things and creating thatstandardization across the
school and building thissimulation community of
excellence that supports,obviously, our students and
(12:36):
faculty and programs within BCIT, but also that community around
us.
Deb Tauber (12:42):
Yeah, now pursuing accreditation like as if the SSH
accreditation is no small featand for such a big organization.
It was a journey for you.
Now, what are some of thebiggest lessons you learned
during the accreditation processfor BCIT's simulation program
and for other institutions thatare eyeing SSH accreditation?
(13:05):
What advice or insights mightyou share with them to help them
navigate the journey?
Heather Epps (13:11):
That's a great question, deb, and I feel like
we could probably have manyhours in this podcast to discuss
it, but I think some of the keythings that we learned along
the way are really the firstthing is creating that
foundation.
So we had been eyeing SSHaccreditation for many years,
(13:35):
but because we were stillworking in silos, we did not
think that we would be able toachieve it without having this
unified vision, and so we reallyhad to create that strong
foundation and make sure thateveryone was on the same page,
following the same bestpractices, and that took a lot
of time, as Carrie wasmentioning.
(13:57):
So once we were able toestablish that and we moved into
our new simulation center in2022.
So that was really kind of agroundbreaking moment of being
able to bring people together,create these resources that
everyone was using, and then, Iwould say, after we settled
(14:19):
because it took a little bit toget everybody used to working
together and being in a sharedspace then we really, over the
last year, had a concentratedeffort, and I think it's almost
like when you're getting readyto make a big life decision,
like buying a house or having ababy, you never feel like you're
(14:41):
ready, and so it actually took,I think, an outside person who
happened to be you, deb, andeven Farooz telling us you guys
are ready, you achieved thefoundation that you needed to,
and you have the capacity andthe ability to do this, and so I
(15:01):
think that was a spark for usand it really helped to motivate
us towards achieving this goaland realizing that we were ready
to do it, but that there wasstill a lot of work that needed
to be done.
And so I think you know you dowant to have people who are
dedicated to completing thatwork, making sure that you're
(15:25):
staying on track, having the youknow, the goal in mind, but
also breaking down the steps ina manageable way.
And so I think that was reallyimportant for me, especially as
the person kind of pullingthings together and almost like
project managing theaccreditation journey was really
(15:48):
being able to figure out okay,what is the next step, okay, now
, what am I trying to accomplish?
And I would say, having a coachor someone there to support you
through that.
So, deb, your supportthroughout the process was
really invaluable.
I don't think that we wouldhave been able to achieve it in
(16:10):
the time that we did withouthaving someone there to kind of
guide us through that.
And so I think what thatallowed us to do was really a
validate that we were on theright track and we were
following best practices.
The accreditation process, Ithink, also highlighted still
(16:30):
some gaps that we had that weneeded to fill, and that was
really important for us and itreally helped us kind of focus
in on this quality improvementapproach and really use that
sort of thinking systems,thinking all of those things to
bring all those pieces together.
And so I think my biggesttakeaway from that is SSH
(16:54):
accreditation, especially for anorganization as large as ours,
is.
It's a marathon, it mightactually be an ultra marathon,
but you kind of have to keepmotivated, stay positive and
really not get too far into theweeds of it, because you can
completely get off trail andlose your way if you do that.
(17:16):
So again, having someone thereto kind of point you in the
right direction and pull youback onto the journey is
extremely helpful.
Deb Tauber (17:27):
Well, thank you.
It was a pleasure and an honorto be with you.
It was really.
You guys were fantastic to workwith.
Ferooz Kandapoor (17:36):
I was constantly getting these
compliments that we say you know, PCI.
There was always every time wehad a chance to talk and she was
saying they're an amazing teamto work with and so glad that
I'm working with them.
And I don't know how long ittook, I don't remember from the
time that you started to finish,but I think this was the
quickest, the shortest one thatI can remember because I've been
(17:58):
through accreditation in thepast with other organizations
but I felt like it was veryquick compared to but I don't
know how many- men's was it intotal, I'm glad that you felt
that for me.
Heather Epps (18:11):
I'm an outsider, I wasn't but well, I think it was
a long time coming.
I mean we had started talksabout accreditation before we
even moved into the building, soit's been a conversation on our
minds for five years.
Yeah, I think we met with DebCarrie July last year, or maybe
(18:32):
it was spring of last year.
Carrie Meager (18:35):
Well, I think it was spring of last year.
Well, I think it was spring oflast year and I remember we met
with you, deb, and you wereencouraging us, based off of
what we shared and where we wereat in the process, that we
could apply for the Julyapplication.
Remember that, heather, and wehad a moment in time where we
thought that, yes, we cantotally do this.
(18:56):
And then I think we took alittle bit of a step back and
reflected on the conversationand realized that probably we
needed a little bit more timeand a little bit more attention
and support from the rest of theteam, just because of the
uniqueness of our school and howbig we are, and we set the
intention that we would worktowards the February application
(19:18):
.
Ferooz Kandapoor (19:19):
That's fantastic.
Carrie Meager (19:20):
Yeah, I think another big thing for us to just
to add to what Heather hasalready said is what's been key
for us being successful,building this one simulation
program and achievingaccreditation is just the
leadership support that we'vehad and our dean, Lisa, and our
associate deans they believe inus and they trust our expertise
(19:43):
and our abilities and that'sbeen huge.
So we've been able to do ourjobs and build this program and
ask for different things anddifferent resources and they've
supported us through that entireprocess and they see the value
of simulation and what it bringsto the student experience and
(20:03):
if we didn't have that supportwe would not be the program
today and we wouldn't be wherewe are today.
So that's one thing that Ithink has been key and something
that I've been really thankfulfor is knowing that we have
support behind us and kind ofmoving towards that shared
vision and that goal of creatinga simulation community of
excellence at BCIT.
Deb Tauber (20:25):
Yeah, and I was so fortunate to get to meet your
team at the Diamond Ball.
And you know just like you said, every single person that I met
, one was just nicer and youknow, more wonderful than the
next.
Just tone at the top right.
Carrie Meager (20:41):
Yeah, we are very lucky to have the team that
we we have.
You know, we have so muchpassion, so much motivation
maybe too much motivation withsome of the projects, which is
every day it seems like we'readding something new.
But I also believe that that'swhy we've been successful, too
is because of the team we havein that shared vision and goals
(21:03):
and and all of us wanting tobuild something special and
unique and being leaders in thesimulation world and
contributing in so manydifferent ways.
I think that's kind of what'sreally special about our team.
Ferooz Kandapoor (21:24):
I think one thing that I just noticed and
I've worked and to know many ofyour teammates over the past
many years that I've beeninvolved with simulation so one
thing that I noticed also everytime I talk to any, whether it's
a simulation technologyspecialist, whether they're
educators they always you canfeel immediately that they have
the support of their managers.
And then I know you guys aretalking about your leadership
(21:44):
and Dean and and so that supportis not stops at the Dean and
it's continues down to down toyour team as well.
That's what you feel and that'sin the enthusiasm that you
mentioned earlier.
That is sometimes too much.
It's just they feel thatsupport is there so they can be
more creative, they could bemore contributing towards the
(22:05):
and they can bring their ideas,and that's why you see overwhelm
of like ideas.
That's what I think, but that'sthe way, because I felt always
that they feel that somebodyelse is supporting them with
their ideas.
So so that layers is built in.
I think that culture iscultivated in the entire program
.
That's what my take is anytimeI see a meeting or visiting your
(22:27):
center.
Heather Epps (22:28):
So kudos to all of you.
Well, and Cruz, I think youbring up a great point and Kerry
mentioned this as well iseverybody sees the value in the
people that are contributing tosimulation, because sometimes
you know you can be at aninstitution and people think
that it's the technology thatmakes that simulation center
(22:51):
special.
Technology that makes thatsimulation center special.
And don't get me wrong, we havea beautiful simulation center
and we have a lot of amazingtechnology, but we really do
have the people necessary tomake that vision come to life.
And so I can't say enough.
Ferooz Kandapoor (23:08):
It's the people using this technology to
run it.
Yeah, it's not the technologythat runs it, so speaking of
technology.
I know the technology is alwaysevolving and BCIT is known to
be the cutting edge on thatfront.
Are there any specificsimulation technology methods or
particularly that you'reexcited or proud of, Maybe a
(23:32):
favorite story or example thatyou can share with us that those
technologies transformed theexperience of your learners?
Heather Epps (23:42):
Yeah, and again, I think we do have a lot of very
cool and interesting technology,but I would say the most
exciting things that have beenhappening at BCIT recently have
been more related to addingagain that human aspect.
So we've launched our in-housesimulated participant program
(24:05):
and so we now have over 40, Ithink I know we're in the middle
of interviews, so the number isgrowing.
But we have many amazing peoplein our simulated participant
program and that has actuallyspurred a lot of the different
health sciences programs tostart incorporating more
simulated participants intotheir simulations, which has
(24:28):
been really amazing.
And we've been using them in alot of unique ways to really
engage our learners.
And so what we've noticed,maybe coming out of the pandemic
I don't know if that was anaspect or it's just the way of
the world now is students cominginto our programs have a really
hard time with communicationand sometimes even really basic
(24:52):
communication.
Really hard time withcommunication and sometimes even
really basic communication,like picking up a phone and
calling another healthcareprofessional to give, you know
report or take, or you know anorder, ask for an order, things
like that.
And so we've actually made aconcentrated effort in creating
a lot of communication stylesimulations, and so RSPs are
(25:13):
playing other healthcareprofessionals.
We've been incorporating someanti-discrimination simulations,
because our learners also arereally keen about being
advocates in their communitiesand within their institutions
that they're working in, and sowe've been creating a lot of
(25:33):
those types of simulations.
And then I would say, becausewe're using a lot more SPs,
we're looking a lot more intodifferent task trainers and you
know how can we combine thathuman aspect with the technology
that's available?
So we've been really looking ata lot of different avenues to
(25:56):
do that.
And then some other things Ithink that have been really
unique or special for ourprogram is we've been using some
of the platforms and differentsoftware technologies to build
our own virtual simulations.
So we have Virtual Pulse, whichhas been around for a long time
(26:19):
, but we're using a lot of morekind of low fidelity simulations
, and so some really interestingthings are coming out of our
Med Lab Sciences program.
We're building an interactiveheme analyzer.
There's a lot of consumablesthat cost a lot of money, and so
we're trying to mimic, simulatedifferent instrumentation,
(26:45):
different pieces of equipment.
That would normally take a lotof these different solutions and
consumables and create kind ofvirtual environments around that
.
So those are some of the kindof key things that I'm thinking
about.
Carrie, do you have any other?
Carrie Meager (27:04):
Well, I was thinking about.
Something that you've beeninstrumental with is the SimPath
workshops that help with our.
Sorry I'm putting you on a spot, but it is really incredible
what you have done aroundSimPath and creating
opportunities for our faculty tolearn and grow as facilitators
(27:25):
with simulation.
So I think that you shouldshare a little bit more about
that.
Heather Epps (27:30):
Yeah, I guess it's okay.
You can totally put me on thespot.
Carrie Meager (27:34):
I'm totally putting you on the spot, but
it's something that I'm veryproud of and something you are
very proud of, and I've had theopportunity to watch you grow
those workshops and build themfrom the ground up.
Heather Epps (28:07):
And probably one of the most rewarding parts of
my job I think I actually don'tknow the exact number anymore,
but it's over 700 or 800 facultyas well as we have a lot of
clinical instructors and so wetry to encourage them to take
these faculty developmentworkshops.
And the other challenge is weoffer them as interprofessional
(28:30):
workshops, so we don't want tojust focus the interactivity
within the workshop on oneprofession.
So we use a lot of differentcreative things to engage people
.
We try to use examples, evenoutside of healthcare, to get
people thinking about debriefingconcepts or pre-briefing
(28:52):
concepts.
We like to use the GreatCanadian Baking Show as an
example for how you maybe youcould pre-brief something if we
get them to do an example of howwould you pre-brief the Great
Canadian Baking Show if you weregoing to use it as a simulation
versus the ready set bakepre-brief that they normally get
(29:15):
.
So, yeah, just kind of comingup with creative ways to engage
faculty and bring everyonetogether so that they can learn
concepts without feeling likeone profession is being singled
out or put above another.
Deb Tauber (29:30):
You know, what I really feel like you guys do an
excellent job at is creating apsychologically safe environment
all over, from just everywhere.
Not, you know, for your faculty, your leadership.
So because it's sopsychologically safe, people
aren't afraid to with a new ideawith a new idea.
Ferooz Kandapoor (29:58):
Yeah, yeah, I had I toured your center uh last
year.
I think it's due again to comein.
So much change, change, so much.
So many things changed.
I'd like to come in and seeespecially those innovations and
and those uh creative ideasthat you guys are doing.
I want to come in and check outand see, learn uh, some things
new.
That's, that's fantastic.
Heather Epps (30:12):
Yes, we would love to have you, and we want Deb to
come and visit too, because wefeel like she's been a part of
it for the last year but hasn'tactually been able to tour with
us?
Deb Tauber (30:24):
Yeah, can't wait.
Well, thank you.
Now, as we wrap up, what finalthoughts or words of inspiration
would you like to leave ourlisteners with about the power
of simulation and in educationin the future of BCIT's program?
Carrie Meager (30:40):
Heather, you want to jump in, you want to
start us off.
Heather Epps (30:43):
Sure, I think you know, for us, as we've mentioned
throughout this podcast, thisconversation is at BCIT we
really do have a vision of acommunity and a center of
excellence.
So when we brought all of ourprograms together to create a
(31:04):
unified simulation strategy,that was what we decided to
focus on and put first.
And so our vision is to createa community and center of
excellence.
And so I think, Farooz, to whatyou were talking about with the
psychological safety piece, andwhat we've been talking about
the whole time is, you really dohave to give attention to the
(31:28):
people that are deliveringsimulations, designing
simulations, setting upsimulations, participating in
simulations, as well assupporting that movement.
And so, yeah, I think, just youknow, making sure that
community is always at theforefront of your minds.
Carrie Meager (31:46):
Yeah, and just to add to, you know it took us
many, many years to get to wherewe are today.
It didn't happen overnight, andI think that's important if you
are someone who's starting tobuild a simulation program or in
the early days and you feellike you have this massive
mountain to climb and there's somany things to learn and so
(32:09):
many things to do and so manythings to build.
It took us a really long timeto get to where we are today and
we still don't feel like we arewhere we want to be we still
have so much to do and so muchto learn and so many places
where we can improve and dothings differently.
It's something that will just beongoing for us.
(32:30):
We are a team that has built alot of resources and are very
open to sharing and supporting,so if you're in that space where
you're overwhelmed and youdon't know what to do and you
need help, please don't hesitateto reach out to us.
We would enjoy supporting youand hearing your stories and
offering any tips or tricks orthings that we've been through
(32:52):
along the way over this I don'tknow 10 to 15 year journey.
Heather Epps (32:56):
we've been on.
One thing that we like to dowith our SimTech team is we have
cakeable offenses.
So if anybody happens to make amistake that is not
unintentional and they want tomake sure that the team
recognizes that they're sorry,we get them to bring in a cake.
Deb Tauber (33:18):
I love that yeah.
Heather Epps (33:21):
I have brought in many cakes so we can just
celebrate as a team and itdoesn't become something that's
horrendous.
It's something that we can alltalk about and and enjoy some
cake while I love that, cakeablemoments, I I will remember
cakeable moments.
Ferooz Kandapoor (33:40):
I made a note of that.
So that's a great way of, uh,you know, working with a team
and just allowing that.
Again, psychological safety isthat's cakeable moments.
So For those of our listenersthat are inspired by this work
and us in the province of BC andCanada and beyond, what is the
best way for our listeners toget in touch with you guys if
(34:03):
they have any questions orwanted to learn more?
Carrie Meager (34:06):
Yeah, that's a great question.
So Heather and I are both onLinkedIn, so that would be a
great way to connect with us.
Our BCIT School of HealthSciences website, I believe, has
my contact information, soCarrie's information on there
and through email.
I think Heather and I would behappy to share our emails as
well.
Ferooz Kandapoor (34:25):
And we will make sure that we put all of
your contact as well in theshow's notes and we'll share
that as well.
Carrie Meager (34:33):
Heather and I often attend conferences as well
, so we have SimExpo coming upin November and IMSH in January.
We hope to be there as well, sohappy to connect and network at
those events as well.
Disclaimer/ Innovative Si (34:46):
Great .
Deb Tauber (34:48):
Yes, thank you.
You guys will be celebrated atthe Diamond Ball.
We hope, so we're lookingforward to that.
All right, well, with that wewill conclude, and I want to
thank everyone for being heretoday and happy simulating.
Disclaimer/ Innovative S (35:06):
Thanks to Innovative Sim Solutions for
sponsoring this week's podcast.
With over 50 years ofexperience, they'll bring your
next simulation center to lifewith ease, confidence, while
saving you time and money.
Contact them today.
Thanks for joining us here atThe Sim Cafe.
(35:30):
We hope you enjoyed.
Visit us at www.
innovativesimsolutions.
com and be sure to hit that likeand subscribe button so you
never miss an episode.
Innovative Sim Solutions isyour one-stop shop for your
simulation needs.
A turnkey solution.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com