High Fidelity Simulation

At Rutgers Health/Robert Wood Johnson Medical School EM Residency, high fidelity simulation is an important part of our education.
In the sim lab, we can tackle complicated resuscitations in a controlled environment. This allows us to focus not only on procedural skills and how pathophysiology informs treatment decisions, but also difficult-to-teach concepts like communication and team dynamics/management.

Our graduate-level simulation curriculum involves at least one simulation per month/topic block. Residents are divided into mixed PGY level teams of ~6 participants per group. Our EM Pharmacy Residents also participate as team members. Each simulation is either built by or vetted by Dr. Donovan (our simulation director). The simulation lasts ~15-20min, followed by a 40-45min debrief session.

For the first half of the academic year, Dr. Donovan hand-picks and runs the simulation and debrief sessions herself. In the second half of the academic year, our senior residents are responsible for selecting a case and building their own sim scenario, so that they can better understand how to translate complex real-life encounters into educational simulation experiences for their peers. Dr. Donovan works one-on-one with each senior resident to prepare the case. Although she is present and coordinates the technology for these sessions, the senior resident is responsible for building the case, finding the associated resources/images, and leading the debrief after each session.

Additionally, there are several opportunities throughout the academic year to assist Dr. Donovan in using simulation to teach in the medical student curricula, including clerkship simulations, graduation bootcamps, and the Rutgers-RWJMS Annual SimWar.

Colleen M. Donovan, MD, FACEP
Assistant Professor, Emergency Medicine
Simulation Director, Department of Emergency Medicine
Rutgers Health/RWJMS