By Melic Elcin
The Turkish Association for Medical Education (TAME) held the second regional conference on simulation, with the theme, “Simulation and Patient Safety”. The target region for this conference was mainly Eastern Europe and Middle East. Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine was the hosting institution. The conference was endorsed by the Association of Standardized Patient Educators (ASPE) , the Society in Europe for Simulation Applied to Medicine (SESAM) , and supported by Istanbul Health Directorate Medical Simulation Center (SIMMERK).
Seventy participants from ten different countries presented two keynote presentations, seven workshops, 12 oral presentations and 28 posters. There were oral and poster presentations from Romania, Russian Federation, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Pakistan. Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Dentistry and Midwifery were the disciplines represented in the conference.
This conference offered participants the opportunity to meet professionals from neighbor countries, share their experiences, and begin to collaborate. Melih Elcin, president of TAME and chair of the ASPE International Committee, as well as Prof. Nermin Yamalik from Hacettepe University welcomed the participants in their opening speeches.
The first keynote presentation titled, “The Humans in Simulation: Embedding Standardized Patients into Education” was delivered by ASPE member Mary Cantrell from University of Arkansas Medical Sciences, USA.
In the afternoon of the first day there were three “how-to” workshops (titles in blue are held by ASPE members):
- Debriefing Simulation and Other Practical Learning Experiences (by Mary Cantrell from University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, USA)
- Quality Assurance of Standardized Patient Case Portrayal and Checklist Completion (by Mandana Shirazi & Laila Sedighpoor from Tehran University, Iran; and Yesim Yigiter Senol from Akdeniz University, Turkey)
- Using High Fidelity Simulation for Patient Safety (by Fusun Terzioglu, Leyla Ozdemir, Sergul Duygulu, Handan Boztepe, and Zahide Tuna from Hacettepe University Faculty of Nursing, Turkey)
In the morning of second day, the keynote presentation titled, “Medical Simulation: From Aviation to Medicine and Beyond” was delivered by M. Emin Aksoy from SIMMERK, Istanbul Health Directorate, Turkey.
Four ‘how-to’ workshops were held in the afternoon (titles in blue are held by ASPE members):
- High Fidelity Simulation Case: Drowning (by Dilek Kitapcioglu, Gülay Eren, Ulufer Sivrikaya, Emel Kocergur, Yesim Abut from SIMMERK, Istanbul Health Directorate, Turkey)
- Hybrid Simulation: Integrated Cases for Patient Safety (by Orhan Odabasi, Ece Abay from Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine, Turkey)
- High Fidelity Simulation Case: Cardiac Arrest (by Dilek Kitapcioglu, Gülay Eren, Inci Paksoy, Kerem Erkalp, Sezen Avtan from SIMMERK, Istanbul Health Directorate, Turkey)
- Assessment in Simulation Based Education (by Melih Elcin from Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine, Turkey; and Abdulaziz M.A. Boker from King Abdulaziz University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia)
The participants’ feedback on the conference were as follows:
– “The Schedule was very well organized. The workshops were very interesting, extremely useful, and presentations were excellent.”
– “It provided an opportunity to gain an understanding about using simulation in healthcare education among healthcare educators and professionals.”
– “With the warm atmosphere of the university, we had the chance to communicate with other participants effectively and to make collaborations for further research.”
ASPE News 