First Ever Practicum Week of the MSMS Program was a True Success

The Inaugural Class of the MSMS Program, from left to right -  Matthew Charnetski, Deisy Mercado, MD, Jessica Parsons, MD, Susan Coffey Zern, MD, Elizabeth Horsley, RN and Bettina Schmitz, MD.

Imagine sitting through a week of nine-hour days, filled with intense lectures, discussions and group projects.  Most students would be eager finish and go home to their friends and family. However, at 5 PM on Friday our students were still in class not ready to leave. All were expressing how they wish the next practicum week was just around the corner.

"Quite simply, this was by far the best, most outstanding education or professional event of my career," said Elizabeth Horsley, RN MEd from Ontario, Canada.

"The on campus sim practicum week was amazing and mind blowing. Outstanding faculty and staff." said  Bettina Schmitz, MD from Texas. 

Their actions and kind words were a true showing of the success of our first practicum week of the MS in Medical and Healthcare Simulation program.

This was the first of three Simulation Laboratory Practicum courses required for the MSMS degree at Drexel University College of Medicine’s Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and Professional Studies.  The remainder of the program is held completely online focusing on the many facets of simulation-based medical education while simultaneously providing students with multiple options to pursue related areas of interest upon graduation. This first week gave a broad overall look at the many areas of medical simulation that exist today. The students were introduced to both high and low fidelity forms of simulation, the costs involved and what simulation scenario best fits the educational needs. 

Beyond the actual simulation there was a heavy focus on writing goals and objectives, developing scenarios and cases, along with plenty of discussion on debriefing and evaluation. 

The students were asked to take what they learned and create full scenarios that included goals and objects and a full debriefing session. The students then presented their projects on Friday and received instant group feedback. 
One of the unique features of the MSMS program at Drexel is the heavy focus on being interprofessional and the projects were required to have a variety of professional roles.  Due to the fact that the students come from different backgrounds, including medical doctors, nursing and EMT, they were able to better understand why interprofessional simulation and communication is so important in medical education. 

The next practicum week for this co-hort is set for September 2015 followed by a week in the Spring 2016 semester.