Discover How SimTutor is Enabling Better Healthcare Education with Online Simulations

lady on iPad using SIMTICS

SimTutor - Enabling Better Healthcare Education Through Online Simulations

SimTutor has been developing world-class simulation solutions for healthcare students and professionals for over 10 years, realizing the dream of its surgeon founders. As technology and connectivity improve, both students and educators are turning to online coursework for benefits that were previously unimaginable.

SimTutor specializes in online simulation solutions for modern healthcare training. In 2008, it released its first SIMTICS products to revolutionize and democratize how healthcare students and staff learn and practice medical procedures. SIMTICS is a subscription-based platform offering 170+ online clinical procedure simulations.

After several years of success, SimTutor Author was designed as an easy-to-use tool to enable instructors and administrators to create their own custom simulations for specialized educating. In April of 2020, SimTutor Inc. was formed to leverage and promote the quality content coming from sister organizations, SIMTICS and SimTutor LLC. The new parent company is headquartered in Atlanta, GA.

 

How COVID-19 Impacted Education

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way we think about education. Almost overnight, schools and universities across the country shifted their entire operations to 100% online learning. Healthcare education was no different. Lab settings (such as those with mannequins for students to simulate patient scenarios) were forced to close due to COVID-19. VR training became unavailable due to a lack of accessibility to expensive equipment. Medical providers were in high demand, but instructing for the next generation of professionals became more challenging than ever.

These unforeseen circumstances created problems for educators, administrators, and students alike. Online courses were once thought to be ineffective, and displacing the traditional classroom setting with individual, asynchronous education seemed unproductive. When remote instruction became our only option, both students and educators learned a lot about the efficacy of distance learning and how to implement it at lightning speed.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, SimTutor was positioned to act quickly by offering learning opportunities for everyone. Using SimTutor Author, they created a series of infection control simulations that were made available for free access by anyone, anywhere in the world, as long as they had an internet connection.

The pandemic has led to an overwhelming increase in healthcare students utilizing their clinical procedure modules. The ability to learn or refresh these important medical skills from anywhere at any time is what makes SimTutor a leader in online simulation education. Since the onset of the pandemic, SimTutor has experienced a dramatic increase in the number of simulations being performed. In fact, since March 1, students have completed 530,194 SimTutor simulations. This is indicative of the widespread interest and need for online learning that will only continue to grow.

 

The Future of Technology in Education

The future of technology in healthcare education and training is exciting. Over the past few years, simulations have become an integral part of healthcare and medical education. Training programs for healthcare professionals require 100s of clinical hours that were previously primarily conducted in person, in clinics. Simulation tutelage is typically delivered in a combination of three methods: in-person sessions, lab-based exercises, and online simulations.

Most institutions are new to the world of online simulation education but with our ‘new normal’, the approved ratio of online to in-person teaching has increased significantly in many fields. Online simulation is the fastest growing method for fulfilling clinical trainee hours and SimTutor is currently the leading provider of online procedural simulations for the healthcare industry.

 

How Are Educators Embracing Online Simulations

Online simulations are risk-free. They allow students to practice and perfect — from anywhere — the medical procedures they need to provide proper patient care. With access to SimTutor custom simulations and SIMTICS (powered by SimTutor Author), students can practice and learn the skills they need to focus on and maximize productivity with step-by-step evaluation and scoring that happens at every step of the virtual procedures. The results are visible to both the student and the instructor for a transparent online learning process. Once students have mastered the skills online, they can advance to hands-on training with confidence and composure. 

The COVID-19 pandemic gave us a glimpse at the future of education. The current health crisis is temporary, but there will always be a need for accessible, quality education — no matter the circumstances. As we move forward, it’s imperative that we equip the next generation of healthcare providers and their administrators with future-proofed learning solutions. With access to online learning simulations from SimTutor, they’ll be ready for anything. 

 

About the author

SimTutor

SimTutor Inc is a global leader in simulation-based learning.

SimTutor Author is an authoring tool designed to help you build interactive procedural simulations and branched scenarios for any industry where realistic, just-in-time, measurable training is critical. 

SIMTICS is a library of ready-to-use simulations for learning medical and healthcare procedures and skills, powered by SimTutor Author.