Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Quick Shots session with Ronan Sweeney from Simovation
20 Plays4 months ago
Jane interviews Ronan who started his simulation career as a diving instructor in Ireland, to now being the managing director of a healthcare simulation company.
Ronan answers 5 questions in 5 (ish) minutes and shares his insights and helpful tips for those new to simulation education.
www.simovation.com.au
Recommended
Transcript
Intro
Introduction to Simulation Happy Hour Quick Shots
00:00:40
Speaker
Welcome to Simulation Happy Hour Quick Shots. Five questions in five minutes. I'm Jane Frost. We acknowledge the land and waters on which you are listening today.
How did scuba diving inspire your interest in simulation?
00:00:51
Speaker
Today i'm with Ronan Sweeney from Simovation. So Ronan, how did you get into simulation? Well Jane many years ago, in fact in the early 90s I got into scuba diving and that was a really good introduction into simulating and people who had experienced drowning or unresponsiveness and that meant that we had to practice CPR first aid and some advanced first aid. So we were using mannequins even back then And that was a really unstructured way, but also using, you know, some kind of teaching frameworks from a diving point of view. It really was interesting to me and it kind of started my trajectory then.
00:01:30
Speaker
And then fast forwarding when I and became an EMT in Ireland, that was also an opportunity where I got to work with mannequins and people who and were probably novice simulationists and they had the best of intent but maybe it was slightly unstructured and but it was a lot of fun and that really piqued my interest in simulation and education in general.
What are your responsibilities at Simovation Interactive Technologies?
00:01:53
Speaker
So can ask what you're currently doing in simulation? Yes, I'm managing director of a company called Simovation Interactive Technologies and we distribute some, well, we're very proud of, really powerful and technologies and moulage products for four different companies. And the first one is Gena8 Spaces and we have a blended learning interactive simulation suite room technology. It's highly interactive.
00:02:19
Speaker
and The next thing is a company called Skillcube in Germany and they create a range of simulated ECG monitors, ventilators, and which are really powerful tools for clinicians and educators and simulationists.
00:02:32
Speaker
and The third thing that we do are medical moulage products from a company called MedicFX and they're based in Auckland, New Zealand. And then the last thing we do, which we're really excited about,
00:02:42
Speaker
because it's the kind of the the most recent I guess addition to the offering that we bring to the Australian New Zealand market is from a company called Virtustech and they have product called DigiSim which is an immersive interactive and design platform for building content that can be deployed agnostically across any device from a phone all the way up to ah Bliss suite.
00:03:05
Speaker
So we're very much a technology based simulation company, but we support universities and TAFEs, pre-hospital organisations like state ambulance services, hospitals, and some of our products also actually lend themselves into other industries as well.
How has simulation evolved in terms of academic rigor?
00:03:22
Speaker
So I'm really interested to know how you've seen simulation evolve over your time using SIMS. I think the one area which has changed drastically over the the years that I've been involved in simulation, and especially since even and living in Australia over the past 16 years, has been the evolution around the academic rigor, the understanding of and creating a safe container, applying you know good good and psychologic our psychology and and logic to keeping people safe in the educational encounters that they have.
00:03:58
Speaker
Also the mentoring I think to people who facilitate simulation and giving them the tools and the kind of scaffolding frameworks around how they can build really good immersive and scenarios for participants.
00:04:11
Speaker
Because I think that's what o was always missing. i I don't think necessarily that you know mannequin technology has evolved drastically, it's certainly improved significantly. and but And obviously we're a company that distributes some immersive interactive technologies.
00:04:26
Speaker
I think that's been a really exciting and change, I guess, for the industry. and But that also brings with it its own challenges of how you embed that into your curriculum and to support your learners without it becoming the star of the show.
00:04:39
Speaker
But I do think that the frameworks and the the programs that are now available to literally you know and support the novice simulationist all the way up to instructor level is amazing. that That's where I've seen the most progress for sure.
How can AI enhance simulation scenarios?
00:04:56
Speaker
And what do you think the influence of AI will bring?
00:05:02
Speaker
This may be me scoring a bit of an on-goal here because naturally we have BLIS, or Blended Learning Interactive Simulation Suite Technology, and we also have an immersive interactive platform for developing immersive interactive content.
00:05:15
Speaker
I think AI can lend itself really well to those type of tools where it's about experiential learning, blended learning, bringing people together because with AI hopefully, we will be able to create some amazing and backgrounds, for example, for BLIS.
00:05:32
Speaker
with, you know, avatar people we can interact with. And imagine if we fast forward five years, three years even, maybe sooner, who knows, you may be able to just speak to the AI and say, create a pediatric ward with a two month old and baby that's having breathing difficulty with a very anxious mom and dad.
00:05:55
Speaker
and And you've just got, you know, two nurses who literally have met the family as they've come in with the ambulance service. and a scenario like that could be stepped up you know within minutes and presented on the walls of the space or in a VR headset and suddenly you're able to press play and start the process of you know the patient deteriorating. I do see that AI will also bring the patient into the environment so we may end up moving away slightly from the physical mannequin for different aspects of how we embed mannequins into scenarios. I think that will become that crossroads for
00:06:29
Speaker
mannequin use versus and more AI based patients and and settings.
What advice do you have for newcomers in simulation?
00:06:35
Speaker
And my last question, because we're nearly at the five minutes, what advice would you give to new people people that are new to simulation?
00:06:46
Speaker
I would say first and foremost, you need to underpin your knowledge. So you've got to scaffold your knowledge. And I think there are ways to do that formatively through courses, which would be one of the first places.
00:06:58
Speaker
But I think also networking. And I think people who are open to you know different ideas, different approaches will probably succeed quite quickly. But I do think you've got to avoid a cognitive bias. You've got to remain curious at all times.
00:07:14
Speaker
And the most important thing is, you know, realize that there are lots of people out there in the simulation community who've worn the shoes and had to take the same journey you have, but the network may not have been as vibrant or as well connected. You have a tremendous opportunity. So, you know, I'd say, and yeah, network, connect and get some formal formal training set you up for success.
00:07:37
Speaker
Thank you so much. My pleasure, Jane. Thanks for joining us
How can listeners engage further with the content?
00:07:41
Speaker
today. you've had a topic that you'd like us to discuss, please go to our website at www.simulationhappyhour.com and send us a message.
00:07:52
Speaker
We look forward to having you join us for our next ah Simulation Happy Hour catch up. And I will put in the link to Ronan's Simervation site in the in the podcast so you can have a look and see of all the things that Ronan has been talking about.
00:08:10
Speaker
Thank you so much for joining us.