February 13, 2022 • 31 mins
Haru Okuda, MD, FACEP, FSSH
Executive Director, Center of Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation
Associate Vice President Interprofessional Education and Practice
Chief Executive Officer, Health Professions Conferencing Corporation
University of South Florida Health
Dr. Okuda is the Executive Director and CEO of USF Health’s Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation (CAMLS), Health Professions Conferencing Corporation (HPCC). In this role, he has oversight of a 90,000 ft2 state of the art, advanced training facility, with the mission of creating and providing experiential learning that improves clinical skills and patient care in the community and around the globe. In addition to this role, Dr. Okuda also serves as USF Health’s Associate Vice President of the Office of Interprofessional Education and Practice (https://health.usf.edu/ipep) focused on creating interprofessional learning opportunities from early healthcare training to clinical practice. He is Professor at the Morsani College of Medicine and practices clinically in the emergency department at Tampa General Hospital.
Prior to coming to USF Health, Dr. Okuda was the national medical director for the Simulation Learning Education and Research Network (SimLEARN) where he established national strategy and business plans for simulation-based programs at more than 150 U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs’ medical facilities. In addition to his role as national medical director of SimLEARN, Dr. Okuda served as the acting deputy chief of patient care services officer for the Veteran’s Health Administration, where he was responsible for policy development and oversight of the national Office for Women’s Health Care, Community and Preventative Health, Social Work and Pharmacy Benefits Management. Before joining the VA, he was assistant vice president and director of the Institute for Medical Simulation and Advanced Learning for the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, the largest public health system in the United States.
Dr. Okuda received his Bachelor of Science degree in neuroscience from Brown University, his medical degree from New York Medical College, and his certificate in Healthcare Modeling and Simulation from the Naval Postgraduate School in California. He completed a residency in emergency medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai where he served as their chief resident, and then completed a clinical quality fellowship from the Greater New York Hospital Association. He is a fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians and an inaugural fellow of the Society for Simulation in Healthcare Academy. He has also served as a chair or member of several medical and simulation committees; and most recently serves as President for the Society for Simulation in Healthcare.
He has co-authored numerous textbooks, peer-reviewed publications and textbook chapters. Known for his passion for teaching, innovation and business, Dr. Okuda received the 2017 Distinguished Educator Award by the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine Simulation Academy for the creation of the simulation-based training program SimWARSTM; was named one of the top 25 Healthcare Leaders Under 40 by Becker’s Hospital Review in 2012; was selected as one of 40 Under 40 New York’s Rising Stars in Business by Crain’s NY Business Magazine in 2011; and was awarded the 2017 Healthcare and Medicine Leader of the Year by i4 Business Magazine.
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.
Intro (00:05):
Welcome to The Sim Cafe, a podcast produced by the team
at Innovative Simsolutions,edited by Shelly Houser.
Join our host Deb Tauber, as shesits down with subject matter
experts from across the globe toreimagine clinical education and
the use of simulation.
(00:26):
So pour yourself a cup ofrelaxation, sit back, tune in
and learn something new from TheSim Cafe.
Deb (00:38):
Welcome to another episode of The Sim Cafe.
And today we're truly blessed tohave Dr.
Haru Okuda who is going todiscuss with us all things sim.
We talked before and I asked Dr.
H aru Okuda about what I shouldc all.
And he said H aru.
So H aru, w hy don't you goahead and tell our guests a
little bit about yourself.
Sure.
Well, thank you, uh, for havingme here, I'm excited to chat
(01:01):
with you and your audience, uh,sort of broadly, I guess I could
tell you a little bit about mybackground.
I'm an emergency physician havebeen practicing for almost 20
years now.
Also my main role is theExecutive Director for the
University South Florida HealthCenter for Advanced Medical
Learning and Simulation, whichis a, a 90,000 square foot
(01:23):
freestanding simulation centerin downtown Tampa.
I'm also the associate vicepresident for our office of
interprofessional education andpractice at USF.
And I guess my most recent roleis as President for the Society
for Simulation Healthcare as oflast month.
Thank you for your contribution.
(01:45):
And you've done so much insimulation.
It's, it's amazing the work thatyou've done now, can you tell us
how you got into simulation?
Haru (01:54):
Absolutely, I'd be happy to.
So I think my journey reallystarted in my childhood.
I was fortunate enough to haveaccess to a lot of great
teachers growing up.
And my father was very much, youknow, he wasn't about material
things, but he was always aboutexperience.
(02:16):
And so he gave me opportunitiesto learn, um, different
instruments, different sports,my main sport, because team
tennis and I played in highschool and my main instrument
became violin.
But through that, I've learnedfrom both great and really not
so great educators and teachers.
(02:39):
So I've, I've always had apassion for, uh, training and
education and what works andwhat does it.
And I, I think I've always hadthat in the back of my mind, but
it came, uh, much more prominentas I got into healthcare.
And so fast forward now to amedical school and I get to
(03:00):
medical school and I said, okay,well, I'm gonna learn to be a
doctor.
This is, you know, this is oneof the most, you know,
healthcare is one of the mostimportant occupations and very
excited about it.
And then I went through medicalschool and started kind of
questioning how we're trainingour, our doctors.
I mean, at that time, it wasjust about like, you know, what,
(03:21):
what is this education that I'mgetting?
It was very compartmentalize.
Lot of problems I saw the firsttwo years were all books.
The books were related to themedical knowledge piece, which I
thought was, was important.
But then you're isolated interms of, as a physician and
training with doctors andmedical students without other
(03:42):
professions, right?
So I didn't know what anyoneelse did or, or however they
interacted.
And then, you know, when I gotinto my clinical rotations,
third year and fourth year, Istarted understanding there was
not a lot of deliberate practiceto learn the kind of things that
we were learning.
And I was, I was in thegeneration pre all those rules.
(04:05):
And so, you know, I got likemany of medical students, we got
beat up quite a bit from ourresidents and, and attendings.
And we were really at the bottomof the totem pole.
And it was, it was in reallyunsafe learning environment, I
think in general culture.
And then I think the, thepivotal point for me was when I
got to residency, I started myinternship and I was at a, a
(04:27):
hospital.
And I just happened to have,when I was doing one a month in
on the medicine floors have aresident that was just not very
engaged and just not present.
And I've told the story beforemany times, but I was asked to
go see a patient in theemergency department.
So I went down to see thepatient.
(04:48):
She was sick, had no accessneeded a central line.
I called my resident.
He said, you know, I'm busy.
And I, I, I know, you know, Iknew he wasn't busy doing
patient care.
He was busy doing other thingsand you've read it in the book
central line.
You saw me do one or sawsomebody do one.
So you put it in yourself.
(05:08):
And again, this kind of buildson the culture of at least this
is over 20 years ago, medicinewhere you don't question, you
don't, you know, go to hissupervisor.
It's just not part of theculture.
And so I proceed to put thecentral line in and, and, um,
again, having only seen one readin the book, there was no
YouTube that I can quickly, youknow, access video and, you
(05:31):
know, long story short, I getthe central line in lot of
stress and anxiety, but I washappy.
I got, you know, flash of blueblood, got the central line in.
And then I look around and Ican't find the guidewire and you
go, oh my gosh.
You know, they teach you, Iteach the central line.
It's like, never let go of theguidewire.
And I had let it go.
And it was inside the triplelumen, panic and sues.
(05:54):
I just basically just undo thesutures, pull out the whole
thing.
And the guidewire was stillsticking out and I was able to
pull it out.
So, you know, ultimately thepatient didn't have a adverse
event, but still had an adverseevent, right.
I mean, they had to go throughanother central line placement,
you know, it's not without itsother complications, it's
(06:15):
painful, et cetera.
And I think that was one of manyexamples where I questioned how
we train our future physiciansat the time.
It was, you know, that I onlyknew how to be a medical student
because in the years that Ispent in music and, uh, learning
from great teachers, it wasabout deliberate practice.
It was about mastery learningperformed at a, I think a
(06:38):
reasonably high level.
I was c onstant m aster i n, i ncollege of the orchestra and you
p ractice a nd practice andpractice until you had it as
perfect as you can get it.
That's when you go and performin front of a live audience, not
I'm g onna practice on apatient.
The patient for us should be thel ive audience.
It should be at our peakperformance.
And yet there was no way to dothat kind of training.
(07:00):
So fast forward to my earlyyears at Mount Sinai, which is
where I train and became anattending there, I was fortunate
enough that Adam Levine, who's abig name i n anesthesia
simulation.
He was the program director atMount Sinai.
And again, as I've said, manytimes simulation communities
extremely generous with theirknowledge, skills and time.
(07:21):
He took me under his wing and itwas also l y at the time that, u
h, Chad Epps, who we've talkedabout many times was doing his
fellowship i n simulation.
And so as a junior attending, Iworked alongside Chad and we
learned together aboutsimulation.
And Chad helped me with all the,you know, training for the
medical, the r esident a ndeventually the medical students.
And so that's really whatlaunched my career in, u h, h
(07:44):
ealthcare simulation.
I haven't looked back, I've beendoing this for 20 years now.
Deb (07:48):
That's wonderful.
A wonderful story.
Simulationist are very generous.
And I think we really recognizethat knowledge is power, but
it's only power if you spread itaround and you share it.
Right.
Um, so I never played a musicalinstrument ever in my life.
Now in this year for 2022, Idecided I was gonna learn to
play the piano.
(08:09):
So that's great.
I've been practicing andpracticing and practicing.
Yeah.
And on Saturday, I'm going tohave my debut where I'm going to
play happy birthday on thepiano.
Haru (08:17):
Wow.
Well, that's wonderful.
I mean, I I'm, so, um, yeah, Iadmire the courage to, to try
new things.
I think, you know, we, we haveto keep pushing and you probably
start thinking, you're probablyapplying some of the simulation
expertise to your pianopractice, right.
With deliberate practice andmastery learning.
Deb (08:35):
Right.
It's yeah.
I'm nervous.
I hope I don't blow a note on it.
Haru (08:40):
Good luck.
Deb (08:42):
Uh, so my next question is what is your favorite or most
impactful simulation experience?
Haru (08:50):
So, um, I've thought about that and it's really hard to
have a favorite for sure.
I mean, I've, I've been doingsimulation for quite some time.
Now I've done simulation at themedical student and residence
level, which was when I was atMount Sinai and I built their
simulation program and then alsoat the practicing healthcare
(09:12):
provider level.
So I, you know, I was the, ainaugural director of the
founding director of the NewYork City Public Health system
simulation program and builttheir program up and then was at
the VA for eight years buildingtheir Nationals program as well.
So it's hard for me to have oneexample.
I could give you an example ofthe type of situation that gives
(09:33):
me a lot of status faction, youknow, over the years, uh, and
many other people have talkedabout simulation as being a, uh,
we're change agents, right?
We are here, simulation is atool, but we're trying to change
culture.
We're trying to change howpeople work together.
And we, you know, working withthe New York City Public Health
System or the VA, or, you know,even at Mount Sinai, we get
(09:55):
pushback and we get pushbackfrom departments, from
individuals, uh, the naysayers,I think, less and less, but
they're still pushback, right?
It's a piece of plastic.
It's not real, you know, I dothis plenty.
I don't need this experience insimulation.
It's, uh, how I've always doneit.
And so the kind of moments thatI really enjoy is those a-ha
(10:19):
moments where there were peoplethat come into the simulation
that may be skeptical or just,they don't wanna be there.
And then by the end of thesimulation, they have this a-ha
moment suddenly you see thetransformation where they've
drunk, the Kool-Aid, right?
(10:40):
And, and some of these things,you know, and change management
in general, I think some of it,it can take months to years to
get people to change theirminds.
But the wonderful thing aboutsimulation is that because it's
experiential, you can see thechange within one simuation
encounter.
And so one recent example ofthat, that I could give.
(11:02):
And, and again, I have many, butwe've had, and I have to mention
the Tampa Bay Lightning because,you know, they're Stanley Cup
winners two years and I, youknow, CAMLS is in Tampa, but
we've had the pleasure of beingable to through camels run
simulations, interprofessionalteam simulations for on ice
(11:24):
emergencies for the Tampa BayLightning medical professionals
in preparation for, you know,hopefully it never happens, but
if there's a disaster on ice, sothis is not, you know, caring
for their audience members, butthis is if a player gets
injured, if you know, we've seencardiac arrests happen, whether
it's in, uh, ice hockey or othersports.
(11:45):
And that requires a lot ofcoordination of systems,
individuals, communications,equipment, processes, and flow.
It's very complex because it'snot in a hospital setting, it's
in an arena in this case amarena.
And so the first time we did it,it was a few years back.
We, uh, were asked to helpsupport.
(12:07):
And the folks that were involvedwere athletic trainers.
And it was actually the athletictrainer was the lead in this
effort.
And then we also had our local,uh, Hillsborough county
paramedics that respond.
And they're always at the gameon site, if there's injuries,
they transport them to Tampageneral or level one trauma
center nearby.
And then we also have physiciansthat are there on site to
(12:31):
respond on ice, to emergenciesand their, uh, that's part of
their responsibilities and thensome other healthcare
professionals or teams as well.
So when we started doing thesimulation, we had probably, I
don't know, 40 or 50 peopleinvolved.
And we brought our team and wehad them give us some cases in
(12:53):
advance.
So what kind of scenarios youwant to do?
And you can tell that some ofthe folks there were not happy
to be there.
You know, they normallybeforehand what they would do is
they would, they would come,they watch some videos, they eat
a nice meal, and then they'vediscussed the policies and
procedures.
They sign something and go home.
And now they have to actuallycommit more time.
(13:13):
They have to go through and beuncomfortable in front of their
peers.
And so there was, you know, somepushback.
So the first scenario we did wasa cardiac arrest in the
visitor's side box, and I'm nota hockey player, but it's where
they all sit.
And so, but we did thesimulation and everybody's there
(13:33):
did the, uh, you know, we said,players down, somebody
responded, they started chestcompressions and we're running
the mannequins and things.
And they decided as part oftheir planning that they were
gonna actually resuscitate inthat area where the bench is,
it's very narrow, it's hard toget to.
And the patient was in VFI orVTAC.
(13:53):
And one of the learningobjectives was us to shock and a
couple things that came about,uh, I think one of'em was that
the team lead who eventually wasa physician when they got to the
scene had a very difficult timecommunicating because it was so
you couldn't be right next tothe patient.
It was there wasn't enough room.
And so nobody could hear hergiving the direction.
And ultimately when we a time toshock or defibrillation, it was
(14:18):
over five minutes and lots ofreasons why, but we're like,
okay.
And then we debriefed and we didthis big debriefing.
And that's when you initiallysaw some of the engagement,
right?
Because you start debriefing, wetalk about the times and you
know, everyone's like, you know,we, we, you know, we, there's
not enough room here.
We need to go in a place thatroom.
And now you have, you know, tensof thousands of people watching,
(14:38):
and that's not good either.
And all the great debriefingpoints come out.
And after that initial case, andwe had like three more cases and
two, we were like, okay, well,you know, that's great.
Let's move to the next case.
The folks participating said,can we do that again?
Right.
And we hadn't planned on it.
We had limited time.
We have these cases.
And, but when you then havepeople that have never done
(15:01):
simulation, wanna do it againbecause they want they're, you
know, one they're type apersonalities, right.
So they wanna do better.
But also they realize, you know,we're all he, uh, clinical
provider is like five minutes to, uh, defibrillation is death,
right.
That does not, you know, you'renot gonna bring somebody back.
And so we went and repeated thescenario again, we actually did
some different things, likemoving the patient quickly to
(15:23):
the little area out of site fromeverybody.
It would take 10 seconds to getthe patient there, but it gives
everybody more space, resourcesget to them faster.
And we were able to get todefibulation by two minutes.
Right.
And, you know, you want to getto even faster.
But the fact that we went fromfive minutes to two minutes and
the impact it's gonna have forany player that goes down and
(15:44):
they changed their process.
But for me that the fact thatthe folks that are initially
resistant wanted to repeat it,those are the moments where I
feel like we're making a trueimpact.
And those types of situationsare my favorite moments of aha
discovery learning that I getout of simulation.
Deb (16:04):
Absolutely.
Thank you for sharing that.
Great story.
Great story.
Now, a, where do you see thefuture of simulation going?
Haru (16:14):
So it's a really good question.
I've been asked that a lotrecently, especially with COVID
and I think COVID has done somereally interesting things where
it's pushed technology fasterout of necessity.
You know, there's a couple ofareas where for, from a
technology standpoint, I think,you know, we've been using
(16:37):
mannequins and task trainersand, you know, uh, um, simulated
patients and, and othermodalities for quite some time.
But with technology, I think we,as a community need to be very
aged and, um, and uh, involvedin, uh, areas such as virtual
(17:01):
reality, augmented reality,mixed reality.
Um, some of the other technologybased, uh, training solutions,
including artificialintelligence, um, because, you
know, we were pioneers inhealthcare education 20 plus
years ago, right?
When we were, you know, it'sthe, the David Gaba's of the
(17:21):
world that, you know, helpedbuild their initial simulation,
uh, mannequins because there wasa need.
Um, and, uh, but you know, nowif we continue to do what we've
always done without transforming, how we educate, because
ultimately simulation is not amannequin or a task trainer,
simulation is a way we dothings, experiential learning,
(17:44):
the way that we teach.
And I think we're gonna have avery different version of
simulation in the future thatwas gonna have to adapt to the
times and the technology and thelearners, the learners are
expecting us to keep up.
And so I think there's gonna bea lot more utilization of new
technologies like virtualrealtiy, augmented reality, also
(18:05):
Tele-simulation is somethingthat has really pushed through
the last couple of years.
So I think that's gonna be a bigpart of it as well.
And then my hope, and I'vealways hoped this, you know, the
part of why I got intosimulation though, I love the
education part, but it'sultimately about patient
outcomes.
And so I, I hope that simulationwill become a part of healthcare
(18:30):
delivery, patient safetylearning, similar to what the
commercial airline industry doesfor simulation and other.
The military does forsimulation, where it just
becomes a part of the must havesand not a nice to have.
And so there's the, where I seeit going where hope at see it
(18:50):
going is I hope it becomes partof the culture of healthcare
education, training, anddelivery practice, so that we
all do simulation as a part ofmaintenance or ongoing training
team training in order to, uh,provide the best possible care
and to have a better trainedworkforce.
(19:12):
That's, that's coming out on theother side.
So that's my help.
We've been at that part, thepatient safety part for some
time, and we're not quite wherewe need to be.
You know, even after the 1999,to err is human, we are further,
but I think, you know, that'swhere I would love to see
simulation going.
And the technology part I getsgoing, regardless of whether I
(19:32):
like it or not, or whethersociety or a simulation likes it
or not, I'm pretty confident itwill be going in that direction
as far as technology andtraining and education.
Deb (19:41):
Thank you.
Thank you.
Great, great response now,because I'm gonna interview Bob
Armstrong, Juli Maxworthy andyourself, tell us a little bit
about first of all, how youthrived or got through the
pandemic and then how thesociety as leaders are
positioning this and what canwe, as simulation as community
(20:05):
do to support and help you.
Haru (20:08):
So great questions.
So specifically to how COVIDimpact what we did at CAMLS.
And this kind of goes to mypoint earlier, which is right
now, the way that simulation isvalued in different
organizations is not consistent.
And what I mean by that is thereare many hospital in schools and
(20:34):
universities.
The first thing that went awaywas training education,
including simulation.
They shut it down.
And whether it was seen aseducation, which is a nice to
have, or there were, you know,there's some real reasons like
some places they actually had touse their simulation center for
healthcare delivery.
So absolutely, but someorganizations just didn't see
(20:58):
that as a priority.
And I always push back on thatbecause training and education
is, is critical, especially intimes of crisis and, and
disaster.
And I think, you know, we'veseen that play out time and time
again when Ebola was a threat tothe world.
And I was at the VA, we builtsimulations to help with donning
(21:19):
and ding and, and all the thingsthat require response to Ebola.
You know, I always say thesimulation is a necessity and is
a must have during, especiallyin times of crisis.
And so what did CAMLS do?
Our leadership is extremelysupportive at the University of
South Florida, and we did closeour doors, um, of the simulation
(21:39):
center, uh, March, April, May,like I think most places did to
focus on safety, clinical carevaccines weren't around.
I think there was a lot ofconcern and we didn't know what
it would entail, but at the sametime, we didn't wanna sit around
while our healthcare workerswere on the front lines with
(22:00):
little knowledge of the illness,the virus with little
understanding of safety and allthese new protocols and
procedures that were put inplace.
And so I, um, reached out to ourchief quality officer at our
level one trauma center partner,and we're actually not a
hospital based center.
So we have no requirement toprovide simulation for that
(22:23):
hospital.
But I reached out and said, howcan we help?
And just like, there werecommunities, you know, people
were donating donuts and glovesand masks.
We are one of the premiertraining facilities, simulation
based training facilities in thecountry.
We wanted to help.
And so what we ended up doingwas working with their team and
(22:44):
we built a insight to trainingsimulation scenario to support
their code, um, responses,because there was a lot of fear
in resuscitating patients withCOVID a lot of the fear laid on
airway management because theydidn't know if the people would
contract it by intubatingpatients and doing chest
compressions, et cetera.
(23:05):
And so all these new protocolswere coming out and there lot of
anxiety and fear within thestaff.
And so starting, uh, March,April, May, we were there every
week with our team and wetrained at the end of it over
500 physicians, nurses,pharmacists, respiratory
therapists, so that they werecomfortable with the whole
(23:26):
process and the protocols.
And a lot of that, we tweakedbased off of our simulation, but
ultimately there's a videoactually that describes the
journey.
They interview some of thenurses.
What they said was that afterthe simulations, they definitely
felt less anxiety and fear goingto resuscitate patients.
And they felt much moreconfident and competent so that
(23:48):
they don't make mistakes and putthemselves at risk.
And so that was our response toCOVID and what I had done, I'm
an emergency physician.
So I was working shifts as wellby my job.
I was exposing myself and thatwas just what I do, but I also
didn't want to our staff, oursimulation operation specialists
(24:08):
and other staff members to bethere, if they were not
comfortable to be there, right.
That's not what they signed upfor.
I signed up as an ER docunknowingly, I guess, to be a
part of all these pandemics andthings.
But, you know, that's, that'spart of the job, but that's not
part of their job to putthemselves at risks.
So I was willing to go in andrun all the simulations myself,
(24:29):
if there's nobody else thatwanted to go.
But I looked for volunteers fromour team and everybody raised
their hand, right.
They all wanted to help.
So we had a full team that wentin every week, we rotated
different folks and, uh, wentthrough these simulations.
So that was a risk to COVID.
We opened our doors back up inJune as well, because I feel so
(24:51):
strongly that simulationimproves patient safety.
We do all of our boot camps forour residents in June, the
incoming residents for July.
And, and I said, you know, ifwe're not doing that, that's a
patient safety issue.
And so we opened our hours inJune so that we could do all of
our boot camps.
We did it in a very differentway so that we maximized social
(25:13):
distancing and all of that maskrequirements, et cetera.
And we had hundreds of residentscome through and had zero
outbreak in June.
So it was done safely.
And then, you know, and then westarted ramping up with medical
students, cuz we were worriedabout the future workforce and
you know, are they gonna be ableto graduate?
And so we were very engagedduring that time in response to
(25:35):
your question about, from asociety standpoint, you know,
and I, I know you're gonna beinterviewing Bob and Julie and
so they'll probably have verydifferent perspectives.
Uh, you know, maybe what I'll dois I'll talk about the wearing
my hat as the current presidentlooking into the future.
So I think Bob and Julie did anincredible job early on during a
(25:56):
time.
You know, Bob was two years ago,right?
When the pandemic started andeverything was unknown and he
did an incredible job providingsupport and resources to our
community during a time ofcrisis and built a place where
we can share best practices onCOVID practices.
We had all these webinars, etcetera.
(26:18):
And that was great.
And I think last year the focuswas on sort of this, a little
bit of more normalization, butstill, you know, understanding
COVID had restrictions andeverything was virtual and we
offered the, if you're a member,you get to go to the virtual
IMSH for free.
And the learning opportunities,I think this year is when we
(26:39):
start looking forward, COVID isalways gonna be there and it's
not to say we ignore it orpretend it's not there and it,
but it's gonna be a part of ourlives.
Moving forward.
We were committed to having aface to face safe meeting this
past September because we needto move forward as an
organization.
And because what we do isimportant and what we do is
critical to the safety of ourpatients and the building of our
(27:02):
future, your workforce.
And in the coming year, thereare a couple things that I'm
really gonna focus on.
One is about advocacy.
And so going back to mychallenges and frustrations I've
had, which is about gettingsimulation into the fabric of
patient safety, qualityimprovement and training, that
we're gonna start really pushingthat envelope from an advocacy
(27:23):
standpoint, outside of all thepeople that have drunk the
Kool-Aid to people that may notbelieve it or understand it or,
and including people at thegovernment level.
And then the second part thatI'm really be, uh, focused on is
on the technology piece andworking with our industry
partners to really identify andbe a part of defining what the
future of experience learning isgonna look like.
(27:45):
And having us develop thestandards and not having the
standards pushed on us by peoplethat aren't necessarily involved
in this.
And so those are my two sort ofmain focuses to push our
organization forward.
And then a couple of otherefforts that we're gonna be
really focused on.
Uh, one is diversity, equity,inclusion.
There's a lot of discussionaround DEI at the IMSH meeting.
(28:08):
It's gonna be critical part ofour conversation and ensuring
that we have, we create theknowledge, the science, the
resources for our community, sothat we can do better training
and, uh, more equitable trainingacross the board and then just
our collaboration.
And so being more open to globalpartnerships, uh, truly as
(28:28):
partners, because as we learn inthe pandemic, there is expertise
everywhere.
And working with ourinternational partners to pave
the way define the future ofsimulation, I think is gonna be
really important for thesociety.
Deb (28:43):
Absolutely, absolutely.
This is just been a fascinatinginterview and I am so grateful.
I've learned so much from youHaru final question is how can
your tribe, how can we thesimulation to support you?
Is there some specific thingsthat we can do?
Haru (29:01):
Absolutely.
I think everybody, you know,keep doing what you're doing in
terms of collaboration, sharingbest practices, pushing ahead in
places that are uncomfortable,whether it's in quality, safety
or education, people will say,oh, we've always done it this
way.
We don't need to do that.
Or that technology is notuseful.
(29:21):
I need everybody's help to pushthe envelope so that we can use
their practices to help defineour futures.
We're here to support ourmembers so that we can have a
very different feature thatprioritizes training education,
especially in areas ofsimulation, that includes
(29:42):
virtual, um, modalities,especially that helps to deliver
training to under-resourcedareas, populations, rural
environments, et cetera.
So I would just say, keep doingwhat you're doing, innovate,
collaborate, and then stayconnected with us.
Uh, it's hard for me to knowwhat everybody's needs are,
(30:03):
their struggles are theirchallenges are.
Deb (30:05):
So I would love for them to reach out and, and let us know
what's going on.
Let us know how we can helpsupport.
I'm pretty active in socialmedia.
So anybody can find me onTwitter, Instagram, LinkedIn,
and, uh, it's either Haru.Okudaor Haru Okuda.
And one of those are my handlesand then CAMLS were also very
(30:27):
active as well.
So generally speaking, I, Ithink every single time
somebody's reached out or askeda question on one of those
platforms, I always respond.
So please, you know, stayconnected.
Let, let me know what's goingon.
And the more I know, the more Ican support them as the
President of the Society.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Haru (30:45):
My pleasure.
Deb (30:46):
And I will end this episode with happy simulating.
Outro (30:56):
Thanks for joining us here at The Sim Cafe.
We hope you enjoyed connect withus at www.innovativesimsolutions
.com and be sure to hit thatlike and subscribe button.
So you never miss an episode ofThe Sim Cafe.
Welcome to The Sim Cafe, a podcast produced by the team
at Innovative Simsolutions,edited by Shelly Houser.
Join our host Deb Tauber, as shesits down with subject matter
experts from across the globe toreimagine clinical education and
the use of simulation.
(00:26):
So pour yourself a cup ofrelaxation, sit back, tune in
and learn something new from TheSim Cafe.
Deb (00:38):
Welcome to another episode of The Sim Cafe.
And today we're truly blessed tohave Dr.
Haru Okuda who is going todiscuss with us all things sim.
We talked before and I asked Dr.
H aru Okuda about what I shouldc all.
And he said H aru.
So H aru, w hy don't you goahead and tell our guests a
little bit about yourself.
Sure.
Well, thank you, uh, for havingme here, I'm excited to chat
(01:01):
with you and your audience, uh,sort of broadly, I guess I could
tell you a little bit about mybackground.
I'm an emergency physician havebeen practicing for almost 20
years now.
Also my main role is theExecutive Director for the
University South Florida HealthCenter for Advanced Medical
Learning and Simulation, whichis a, a 90,000 square foot
(01:23):
freestanding simulation centerin downtown Tampa.
I'm also the associate vicepresident for our office of
interprofessional education andpractice at USF.
And I guess my most recent roleis as President for the Society
for Simulation Healthcare as oflast month.
Thank you for your contribution.
(01:45):
And you've done so much insimulation.
It's, it's amazing the work thatyou've done now, can you tell us
how you got into simulation?
Haru (01:54):
Absolutely, I'd be happy to.
So I think my journey reallystarted in my childhood.
I was fortunate enough to haveaccess to a lot of great
teachers growing up.
And my father was very much, youknow, he wasn't about material
things, but he was always aboutexperience.
(02:16):
And so he gave me opportunitiesto learn, um, different
instruments, different sports,my main sport, because team
tennis and I played in highschool and my main instrument
became violin.
But through that, I've learnedfrom both great and really not
so great educators and teachers.
(02:39):
So I've, I've always had apassion for, uh, training and
education and what works andwhat does it.
And I, I think I've always hadthat in the back of my mind, but
it came, uh, much more prominentas I got into healthcare.
And so fast forward now to amedical school and I get to
(03:00):
medical school and I said, okay,well, I'm gonna learn to be a
doctor.
This is, you know, this is oneof the most, you know,
healthcare is one of the mostimportant occupations and very
excited about it.
And then I went through medicalschool and started kind of
questioning how we're trainingour, our doctors.
I mean, at that time, it wasjust about like, you know, what,
(03:21):
what is this education that I'mgetting?
It was very compartmentalize.
Lot of problems I saw the firsttwo years were all books.
The books were related to themedical knowledge piece, which I
thought was, was important.
But then you're isolated interms of, as a physician and
training with doctors andmedical students without other
(03:42):
professions, right?
So I didn't know what anyoneelse did or, or however they
interacted.
And then, you know, when I gotinto my clinical rotations,
third year and fourth year, Istarted understanding there was
not a lot of deliberate practiceto learn the kind of things that
we were learning.
And I was, I was in thegeneration pre all those rules.
(04:05):
And so, you know, I got likemany of medical students, we got
beat up quite a bit from ourresidents and, and attendings.
And we were really at the bottomof the totem pole.
And it was, it was in reallyunsafe learning environment, I
think in general culture.
And then I think the, thepivotal point for me was when I
got to residency, I started myinternship and I was at a, a
(04:27):
hospital.
And I just happened to have,when I was doing one a month in
on the medicine floors have aresident that was just not very
engaged and just not present.
And I've told the story beforemany times, but I was asked to
go see a patient in theemergency department.
So I went down to see thepatient.
(04:48):
She was sick, had no accessneeded a central line.
I called my resident.
He said, you know, I'm busy.
And I, I, I know, you know, Iknew he wasn't busy doing
patient care.
He was busy doing other thingsand you've read it in the book
central line.
You saw me do one or sawsomebody do one.
So you put it in yourself.
(05:08):
And again, this kind of buildson the culture of at least this
is over 20 years ago, medicinewhere you don't question, you
don't, you know, go to hissupervisor.
It's just not part of theculture.
And so I proceed to put thecentral line in and, and, um,
again, having only seen one readin the book, there was no
YouTube that I can quickly, youknow, access video and, you
(05:31):
know, long story short, I getthe central line in lot of
stress and anxiety, but I washappy.
I got, you know, flash of blueblood, got the central line in.
And then I look around and Ican't find the guidewire and you
go, oh my gosh.
You know, they teach you, Iteach the central line.
It's like, never let go of theguidewire.
And I had let it go.
And it was inside the triplelumen, panic and sues.
(05:54):
I just basically just undo thesutures, pull out the whole
thing.
And the guidewire was stillsticking out and I was able to
pull it out.
So, you know, ultimately thepatient didn't have a adverse
event, but still had an adverseevent, right.
I mean, they had to go throughanother central line placement,
you know, it's not without itsother complications, it's
(06:15):
painful, et cetera.
And I think that was one of manyexamples where I questioned how
we train our future physiciansat the time.
It was, you know, that I onlyknew how to be a medical student
because in the years that Ispent in music and, uh, learning
from great teachers, it wasabout deliberate practice.
It was about mastery learningperformed at a, I think a
(06:38):
reasonably high level.
I was c onstant m aster i n, i ncollege of the orchestra and you
p ractice a nd practice andpractice until you had it as
perfect as you can get it.
That's when you go and performin front of a live audience, not
I'm g onna practice on apatient.
The patient for us should be thel ive audience.
It should be at our peakperformance.
And yet there was no way to dothat kind of training.
(07:00):
So fast forward to my earlyyears at Mount Sinai, which is
where I train and became anattending there, I was fortunate
enough that Adam Levine, who's abig name i n anesthesia
simulation.
He was the program director atMount Sinai.
And again, as I've said, manytimes simulation communities
extremely generous with theirknowledge, skills and time.
(07:21):
He took me under his wing and itwas also l y at the time that, u
h, Chad Epps, who we've talkedabout many times was doing his
fellowship i n simulation.
And so as a junior attending, Iworked alongside Chad and we
learned together aboutsimulation.
And Chad helped me with all the,you know, training for the
medical, the r esident a ndeventually the medical students.
And so that's really whatlaunched my career in, u h, h
(07:44):
ealthcare simulation.
I haven't looked back, I've beendoing this for 20 years now.
Deb (07:48):
That's wonderful.
A wonderful story.
Simulationist are very generous.
And I think we really recognizethat knowledge is power, but
it's only power if you spread itaround and you share it.
Right.
Um, so I never played a musicalinstrument ever in my life.
Now in this year for 2022, Idecided I was gonna learn to
play the piano.
(08:09):
So that's great.
I've been practicing andpracticing and practicing.
Yeah.
And on Saturday, I'm going tohave my debut where I'm going to
play happy birthday on thepiano.
Haru (08:17):
Wow.
Well, that's wonderful.
I mean, I I'm, so, um, yeah, Iadmire the courage to, to try
new things.
I think, you know, we, we haveto keep pushing and you probably
start thinking, you're probablyapplying some of the simulation
expertise to your pianopractice, right.
With deliberate practice andmastery learning.
Deb (08:35):
Right.
It's yeah.
I'm nervous.
I hope I don't blow a note on it.
Haru (08:40):
Good luck.
Deb (08:42):
Uh, so my next question is what is your favorite or most
impactful simulation experience?
Haru (08:50):
So, um, I've thought about that and it's really hard to
have a favorite for sure.
I mean, I've, I've been doingsimulation for quite some time.
Now I've done simulation at themedical student and residence
level, which was when I was atMount Sinai and I built their
simulation program and then alsoat the practicing healthcare
(09:12):
provider level.
So I, you know, I was the, ainaugural director of the
founding director of the NewYork City Public Health system
simulation program and builttheir program up and then was at
the VA for eight years buildingtheir Nationals program as well.
So it's hard for me to have oneexample.
I could give you an example ofthe type of situation that gives
(09:33):
me a lot of status faction, youknow, over the years, uh, and
many other people have talkedabout simulation as being a, uh,
we're change agents, right?
We are here, simulation is atool, but we're trying to change
culture.
We're trying to change howpeople work together.
And we, you know, working withthe New York City Public Health
System or the VA, or, you know,even at Mount Sinai, we get
(09:55):
pushback and we get pushbackfrom departments, from
individuals, uh, the naysayers,I think, less and less, but
they're still pushback, right?
It's a piece of plastic.
It's not real, you know, I dothis plenty.
I don't need this experience insimulation.
It's, uh, how I've always doneit.
And so the kind of moments thatI really enjoy is those a-ha
(10:19):
moments where there were peoplethat come into the simulation
that may be skeptical or just,they don't wanna be there.
And then by the end of thesimulation, they have this a-ha
moment suddenly you see thetransformation where they've
drunk, the Kool-Aid, right?
(10:40):
And, and some of these things,you know, and change management
in general, I think some of it,it can take months to years to
get people to change theirminds.
But the wonderful thing aboutsimulation is that because it's
experiential, you can see thechange within one simuation
encounter.
And so one recent example ofthat, that I could give.
(11:02):
And, and again, I have many, butwe've had, and I have to mention
the Tampa Bay Lightning because,you know, they're Stanley Cup
winners two years and I, youknow, CAMLS is in Tampa, but
we've had the pleasure of beingable to through camels run
simulations, interprofessionalteam simulations for on ice
(11:24):
emergencies for the Tampa BayLightning medical professionals
in preparation for, you know,hopefully it never happens, but
if there's a disaster on ice, sothis is not, you know, caring
for their audience members, butthis is if a player gets
injured, if you know, we've seencardiac arrests happen, whether
it's in, uh, ice hockey or othersports.
(11:45):
And that requires a lot ofcoordination of systems,
individuals, communications,equipment, processes, and flow.
It's very complex because it'snot in a hospital setting, it's
in an arena in this case amarena.
And so the first time we did it,it was a few years back.
We, uh, were asked to helpsupport.
(12:07):
And the folks that were involvedwere athletic trainers.
And it was actually the athletictrainer was the lead in this
effort.
And then we also had our local,uh, Hillsborough county
paramedics that respond.
And they're always at the gameon site, if there's injuries,
they transport them to Tampageneral or level one trauma
center nearby.
And then we also have physiciansthat are there on site to
(12:31):
respond on ice, to emergenciesand their, uh, that's part of
their responsibilities and thensome other healthcare
professionals or teams as well.
So when we started doing thesimulation, we had probably, I
don't know, 40 or 50 peopleinvolved.
And we brought our team and wehad them give us some cases in
(12:53):
advance.
So what kind of scenarios youwant to do?
And you can tell that some ofthe folks there were not happy
to be there.
You know, they normallybeforehand what they would do is
they would, they would come,they watch some videos, they eat
a nice meal, and then they'vediscussed the policies and
procedures.
They sign something and go home.
And now they have to actuallycommit more time.
(13:13):
They have to go through and beuncomfortable in front of their
peers.
And so there was, you know, somepushback.
So the first scenario we did wasa cardiac arrest in the
visitor's side box, and I'm nota hockey player, but it's where
they all sit.
And so, but we did thesimulation and everybody's there
(13:33):
did the, uh, you know, we said,players down, somebody
responded, they started chestcompressions and we're running
the mannequins and things.
And they decided as part oftheir planning that they were
gonna actually resuscitate inthat area where the bench is,
it's very narrow, it's hard toget to.
And the patient was in VFI orVTAC.
(13:53):
And one of the learningobjectives was us to shock and a
couple things that came about,uh, I think one of'em was that
the team lead who eventually wasa physician when they got to the
scene had a very difficult timecommunicating because it was so
you couldn't be right next tothe patient.
It was there wasn't enough room.
And so nobody could hear hergiving the direction.
And ultimately when we a time toshock or defibrillation, it was
(14:18):
over five minutes and lots ofreasons why, but we're like,
okay.
And then we debriefed and we didthis big debriefing.
And that's when you initiallysaw some of the engagement,
right?
Because you start debriefing, wetalk about the times and you
know, everyone's like, you know,we, we, you know, we, there's
not enough room here.
We need to go in a place thatroom.
And now you have, you know, tensof thousands of people watching,
(14:38):
and that's not good either.
And all the great debriefingpoints come out.
And after that initial case, andwe had like three more cases and
two, we were like, okay, well,you know, that's great.
Let's move to the next case.
The folks participating said,can we do that again?
Right.
And we hadn't planned on it.
We had limited time.
We have these cases.
And, but when you then havepeople that have never done
(15:01):
simulation, wanna do it againbecause they want they're, you
know, one they're type apersonalities, right.
So they wanna do better.
But also they realize, you know,we're all he, uh, clinical
provider is like five minutes to, uh, defibrillation is death,
right.
That does not, you know, you'renot gonna bring somebody back.
And so we went and repeated thescenario again, we actually did
some different things, likemoving the patient quickly to
(15:23):
the little area out of site fromeverybody.
It would take 10 seconds to getthe patient there, but it gives
everybody more space, resourcesget to them faster.
And we were able to get todefibulation by two minutes.
Right.
And, you know, you want to getto even faster.
But the fact that we went fromfive minutes to two minutes and
the impact it's gonna have forany player that goes down and
(15:44):
they changed their process.
But for me that the fact thatthe folks that are initially
resistant wanted to repeat it,those are the moments where I
feel like we're making a trueimpact.
And those types of situationsare my favorite moments of aha
discovery learning that I getout of simulation.
Deb (16:04):
Absolutely.
Thank you for sharing that.
Great story.
Great story.
Now, a, where do you see thefuture of simulation going?
Haru (16:14):
So it's a really good question.
I've been asked that a lotrecently, especially with COVID
and I think COVID has done somereally interesting things where
it's pushed technology fasterout of necessity.
You know, there's a couple ofareas where for, from a
technology standpoint, I think,you know, we've been using
(16:37):
mannequins and task trainersand, you know, uh, um, simulated
patients and, and othermodalities for quite some time.
But with technology, I think we,as a community need to be very
aged and, um, and uh, involvedin, uh, areas such as virtual
(17:01):
reality, augmented reality,mixed reality.
Um, some of the other technologybased, uh, training solutions,
including artificialintelligence, um, because, you
know, we were pioneers inhealthcare education 20 plus
years ago, right?
When we were, you know, it'sthe, the David Gaba's of the
(17:21):
world that, you know, helpedbuild their initial simulation,
uh, mannequins because there wasa need.
Um, and, uh, but you know, nowif we continue to do what we've
always done without transforming, how we educate, because
ultimately simulation is not amannequin or a task trainer,
simulation is a way we dothings, experiential learning,
(17:44):
the way that we teach.
And I think we're gonna have avery different version of
simulation in the future thatwas gonna have to adapt to the
times and the technology and thelearners, the learners are
expecting us to keep up.
And so I think there's gonna bea lot more utilization of new
technologies like virtualrealtiy, augmented reality, also
(18:05):
Tele-simulation is somethingthat has really pushed through
the last couple of years.
So I think that's gonna be a bigpart of it as well.
And then my hope, and I'vealways hoped this, you know, the
part of why I got intosimulation though, I love the
education part, but it'sultimately about patient
outcomes.
And so I, I hope that simulationwill become a part of healthcare
(18:30):
delivery, patient safetylearning, similar to what the
commercial airline industry doesfor simulation and other.
The military does forsimulation, where it just
becomes a part of the must havesand not a nice to have.
And so there's the, where I seeit going where hope at see it
(18:50):
going is I hope it becomes partof the culture of healthcare
education, training, anddelivery practice, so that we
all do simulation as a part ofmaintenance or ongoing training
team training in order to, uh,provide the best possible care
and to have a better trainedworkforce.
(19:12):
That's, that's coming out on theother side.
So that's my help.
We've been at that part, thepatient safety part for some
time, and we're not quite wherewe need to be.
You know, even after the 1999,to err is human, we are further,
but I think, you know, that'swhere I would love to see
simulation going.
And the technology part I getsgoing, regardless of whether I
(19:32):
like it or not, or whethersociety or a simulation likes it
or not, I'm pretty confident itwill be going in that direction
as far as technology andtraining and education.
Deb (19:41):
Thank you.
Thank you.
Great, great response now,because I'm gonna interview Bob
Armstrong, Juli Maxworthy andyourself, tell us a little bit
about first of all, how youthrived or got through the
pandemic and then how thesociety as leaders are
positioning this and what canwe, as simulation as community
(20:05):
do to support and help you.
Haru (20:08):
So great questions.
So specifically to how COVIDimpact what we did at CAMLS.
And this kind of goes to mypoint earlier, which is right
now, the way that simulation isvalued in different
organizations is not consistent.
And what I mean by that is thereare many hospital in schools and
(20:34):
universities.
The first thing that went awaywas training education,
including simulation.
They shut it down.
And whether it was seen aseducation, which is a nice to
have, or there were, you know,there's some real reasons like
some places they actually had touse their simulation center for
healthcare delivery.
So absolutely, but someorganizations just didn't see
(20:58):
that as a priority.
And I always push back on thatbecause training and education
is, is critical, especially intimes of crisis and, and
disaster.
And I think, you know, we'veseen that play out time and time
again when Ebola was a threat tothe world.
And I was at the VA, we builtsimulations to help with donning
(21:19):
and ding and, and all the thingsthat require response to Ebola.
You know, I always say thesimulation is a necessity and is
a must have during, especiallyin times of crisis.
And so what did CAMLS do?
Our leadership is extremelysupportive at the University of
South Florida, and we did closeour doors, um, of the simulation
(21:39):
center, uh, March, April, May,like I think most places did to
focus on safety, clinical carevaccines weren't around.
I think there was a lot ofconcern and we didn't know what
it would entail, but at the sametime, we didn't wanna sit around
while our healthcare workerswere on the front lines with
(22:00):
little knowledge of the illness,the virus with little
understanding of safety and allthese new protocols and
procedures that were put inplace.
And so I, um, reached out to ourchief quality officer at our
level one trauma center partner,and we're actually not a
hospital based center.
So we have no requirement toprovide simulation for that
(22:23):
hospital.
But I reached out and said, howcan we help?
And just like, there werecommunities, you know, people
were donating donuts and glovesand masks.
We are one of the premiertraining facilities, simulation
based training facilities in thecountry.
We wanted to help.
And so what we ended up doingwas working with their team and
(22:44):
we built a insight to trainingsimulation scenario to support
their code, um, responses,because there was a lot of fear
in resuscitating patients withCOVID a lot of the fear laid on
airway management because theydidn't know if the people would
contract it by intubatingpatients and doing chest
compressions, et cetera.
(23:05):
And so all these new protocolswere coming out and there lot of
anxiety and fear within thestaff.
And so starting, uh, March,April, May, we were there every
week with our team and wetrained at the end of it over
500 physicians, nurses,pharmacists, respiratory
therapists, so that they werecomfortable with the whole
(23:26):
process and the protocols.
And a lot of that, we tweakedbased off of our simulation, but
ultimately there's a videoactually that describes the
journey.
They interview some of thenurses.
What they said was that afterthe simulations, they definitely
felt less anxiety and fear goingto resuscitate patients.
And they felt much moreconfident and competent so that
(23:48):
they don't make mistakes and putthemselves at risk.
And so that was our response toCOVID and what I had done, I'm
an emergency physician.
So I was working shifts as wellby my job.
I was exposing myself and thatwas just what I do, but I also
didn't want to our staff, oursimulation operation specialists
(24:08):
and other staff members to bethere, if they were not
comfortable to be there, right.
That's not what they signed upfor.
I signed up as an ER docunknowingly, I guess, to be a
part of all these pandemics andthings.
But, you know, that's, that'spart of the job, but that's not
part of their job to putthemselves at risks.
So I was willing to go in andrun all the simulations myself,
(24:29):
if there's nobody else thatwanted to go.
But I looked for volunteers fromour team and everybody raised
their hand, right.
They all wanted to help.
So we had a full team that wentin every week, we rotated
different folks and, uh, wentthrough these simulations.
So that was a risk to COVID.
We opened our doors back up inJune as well, because I feel so
(24:51):
strongly that simulationimproves patient safety.
We do all of our boot camps forour residents in June, the
incoming residents for July.
And, and I said, you know, ifwe're not doing that, that's a
patient safety issue.
And so we opened our hours inJune so that we could do all of
our boot camps.
We did it in a very differentway so that we maximized social
(25:13):
distancing and all of that maskrequirements, et cetera.
And we had hundreds of residentscome through and had zero
outbreak in June.
So it was done safely.
And then, you know, and then westarted ramping up with medical
students, cuz we were worriedabout the future workforce and
you know, are they gonna be ableto graduate?
And so we were very engagedduring that time in response to
(25:35):
your question about, from asociety standpoint, you know,
and I, I know you're gonna beinterviewing Bob and Julie and
so they'll probably have verydifferent perspectives.
Uh, you know, maybe what I'll dois I'll talk about the wearing
my hat as the current presidentlooking into the future.
So I think Bob and Julie did anincredible job early on during a
(25:56):
time.
You know, Bob was two years ago,right?
When the pandemic started andeverything was unknown and he
did an incredible job providingsupport and resources to our
community during a time ofcrisis and built a place where
we can share best practices onCOVID practices.
We had all these webinars, etcetera.
(26:18):
And that was great.
And I think last year the focuswas on sort of this, a little
bit of more normalization, butstill, you know, understanding
COVID had restrictions andeverything was virtual and we
offered the, if you're a member,you get to go to the virtual
IMSH for free.
And the learning opportunities,I think this year is when we
(26:39):
start looking forward, COVID isalways gonna be there and it's
not to say we ignore it orpretend it's not there and it,
but it's gonna be a part of ourlives.
Moving forward.
We were committed to having aface to face safe meeting this
past September because we needto move forward as an
organization.
And because what we do isimportant and what we do is
critical to the safety of ourpatients and the building of our
(27:02):
future, your workforce.
And in the coming year, thereare a couple things that I'm
really gonna focus on.
One is about advocacy.
And so going back to mychallenges and frustrations I've
had, which is about gettingsimulation into the fabric of
patient safety, qualityimprovement and training, that
we're gonna start really pushingthat envelope from an advocacy
(27:23):
standpoint, outside of all thepeople that have drunk the
Kool-Aid to people that may notbelieve it or understand it or,
and including people at thegovernment level.
And then the second part thatI'm really be, uh, focused on is
on the technology piece andworking with our industry
partners to really identify andbe a part of defining what the
future of experience learning isgonna look like.
(27:45):
And having us develop thestandards and not having the
standards pushed on us by peoplethat aren't necessarily involved
in this.
And so those are my two sort ofmain focuses to push our
organization forward.
And then a couple of otherefforts that we're gonna be
really focused on.
Uh, one is diversity, equity,inclusion.
There's a lot of discussionaround DEI at the IMSH meeting.
(28:08):
It's gonna be critical part ofour conversation and ensuring
that we have, we create theknowledge, the science, the
resources for our community, sothat we can do better training
and, uh, more equitable trainingacross the board and then just
our collaboration.
And so being more open to globalpartnerships, uh, truly as
(28:28):
partners, because as we learn inthe pandemic, there is expertise
everywhere.
And working with ourinternational partners to pave
the way define the future ofsimulation, I think is gonna be
really important for thesociety.
Deb (28:43):
Absolutely, absolutely.
This is just been a fascinatinginterview and I am so grateful.
I've learned so much from youHaru final question is how can
your tribe, how can we thesimulation to support you?
Is there some specific thingsthat we can do?
Haru (29:01):
Absolutely.
I think everybody, you know,keep doing what you're doing in
terms of collaboration, sharingbest practices, pushing ahead in
places that are uncomfortable,whether it's in quality, safety
or education, people will say,oh, we've always done it this
way.
We don't need to do that.
Or that technology is notuseful.
(29:21):
I need everybody's help to pushthe envelope so that we can use
their practices to help defineour futures.
We're here to support ourmembers so that we can have a
very different feature thatprioritizes training education,
especially in areas ofsimulation, that includes
(29:42):
virtual, um, modalities,especially that helps to deliver
training to under-resourcedareas, populations, rural
environments, et cetera.
So I would just say, keep doingwhat you're doing, innovate,
collaborate, and then stayconnected with us.
Uh, it's hard for me to knowwhat everybody's needs are,
(30:03):
their struggles are theirchallenges are.
Deb (30:05):
So I would love for them to reach out and, and let us know
what's going on.
Let us know how we can helpsupport.
I'm pretty active in socialmedia.
So anybody can find me onTwitter, Instagram, LinkedIn,
and, uh, it's either Haru.Okudaor Haru Okuda.
And one of those are my handlesand then CAMLS were also very
(30:27):
active as well.
So generally speaking, I, Ithink every single time
somebody's reached out or askeda question on one of those
platforms, I always respond.
So please, you know, stayconnected.
Let, let me know what's goingon.
And the more I know, the more Ican support them as the
President of the Society.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Haru (30:45):
My pleasure.
Deb (30:46):
And I will end this episode with happy simulating.
Outro (30:56):
Thanks for joining us here at The Sim Cafe.
We hope you enjoyed connect withus at www.innovativesimsolutions
.com and be sure to hit thatlike and subscribe button.
So you never miss an episode ofThe Sim Cafe.
Popular Podcasts
True Crime Tonight
If you eat, sleep, and breathe true crime, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT is serving up your nightly fix. Five nights a week, KT STUDIOS & iHEART RADIO invite listeners to pull up a seat for an unfiltered look at the biggest cases making headlines, celebrity scandals, and the trials everyone is watching. With a mix of expert analysis, hot takes, and listener call-ins, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT goes beyond the headlines to uncover the twists, turns, and unanswered questions that keep us all obsessed—because, at TRUE CRIME TONIGHT, there’s a seat for everyone. Whether breaking down crime scene forensics, scrutinizing serial killers, or debating the most binge-worthy true crime docs, True Crime Tonight is the fresh, fast-paced, and slightly addictive home for true crime lovers.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.