Geriatric care training can best be accomplished through healthcare simulation, as Holly Clarke from First Care writes in today’s article on the “advantages of healthcare simulation-based teaching for geriatric care” . Holly helps us understand the advantages of simulation-based training for the care of older adults. Covering safety, standardization, and benefits of simulated training, Holly helps us to see just some of the benefits of using clinical simulation in geriatric cases. Are you utilizing simulated learning to educate or train learners in geriatric care? We’d love to hear about your experiences too!
Advantages of simulation-based teaching for geriatric care
A changing population and system deficiencies are two of the top primary focuses on training healthcare professionals today. As an aging population begins to increase greatly in the U. S. and other countries like the United Kingdom, programs like healthcare simulation training is being designed for a number of different reasons. One of the most important is benefiting areas like geriatric care.
That being said, here are some of the main advantages of simulation-based teaching for geriatric care.
Training for Trainees Can Be Done in a Controlled Environment Outside of Real-World Situations
First of all, when trainees are being taught how to provide the proper geriatric care, they need a forum for training that is not intrusive to the older patients as they learn what they should and should not do. Similar to the experiences that the aviation industry has acquired over the last 40 years, clinical simulation technology helps trainees to deal with a wide variety of situations and circumstances.
For instance, the trainees will have a chance to improve and enhance practical skills and experiences without compromising the safety of a patient that has been admitted to the hospital. Because simulation in healthcare can be described as a method of amplifying and replacing real experiences, the training that is provided can cover various aspects of the care of the elderly. In this type of training, everyone involved will have a chance to be guided through patient care with the use of a fully interactive aware experience.
Helps Trainees to Identify Both Physical and Physiological Barriers
Another benefit to simulation training involves both the physical and psychological aspects that exist in real world settings. For instance, with the use of patient actors (i.e. human patient simulation techniques), technology can assist in duplicating the actions of a patient in several different ways. One of the most important is being able to improve healthcare for older adults within a simulated environment that transfers over into real-world hospital settings. For instance, the geriatric medicine that is recommended can become a huge part of the educational process.
More Training is Completed Before Working with Real-Life Examples
Before any trainee enters the room of an older patient, it is best for them to have a full spectrum of experience before allowing them to practice their craft. The training that can be simulated with the programs that’s stored can help to give detailed advice and recommendations of what should be done in certain situations. Therefore, these geriatric simulation examples can help to save time and money too because trainees are given a more in-depth training unlike before.
Benefits of Simulated Training Outweighs the Disadvantages
When simulated training becomes a staple in the training that is provided, the possibilities are endless. For instance, when simulated training is used at any point in time, the cost can be factored in to see if this kind of tactic is well worth it. This is especially the case for those of you who are looking to save money by skipping other forms of training in lieu of simulated a geriatric environment that is needed to do your best.
According to Jane Byrne, project coordinator for a nursing home in Bray, “One of the hottest topics in the health and medical field today is Geriatric care. Since the needs of these patients are increasing and are coupled with physical and physiological barriers, one viable solution is the implementation of simulated-based teaching for geriatric care. Medical Simulation-based teaching for geriatric care has a number of different great advantages including providing training that is needed in a controlled environment, using simulated examples to duplicate many different scenarios of what type of care should be given, and improving elderly care overall without placing real patients in harm’s way.”
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Today’s article was guest authored by Holly Clarke, Freelance Health Writer at First Care.
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