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Indiana University School of Medicine
Indiana University School of Medicine
Pediatrics

Simulation Training

The IU School of Medicine pediatric critical care fellowship program at Riley Hospital for Children (Indianapolis) is actively involved in simulation-based education and research projects. This simulation program is designed to enhance patient safety, and it promotes excellent clinical care and hands-on training through rich experiential learning that empowers a multidisciplinary team approach to care delivery.

The pediatric critical care fellowship has a dedicated simulation curriculum for pediatric critical care fellows that includes bi-annual boot camps, periodic in-situ simulation, mock codes and outreach simulation activities.

The simulation program provides a flexible and rich learning environment for all health providers and trainees to practice key clinical skills, develop high-quality teamwork and improve communication skills in a psychologically safe environment. The program provides health care professionals across disciplines with high-fidelity pediatric clinical experiences embedded within real clinical settings and environments.

Active Programs

The pediatric critical care simulators have developed and implemented simulations projects that focus on pediatric resuscitation quality, pediatric emergency outreach and emergency readiness, and in situ mastery learning. Learners span a broad range of clinical specialties and regularly work with pediatric, medicine-pediatric and emergency medicine residents; pediatric critical care and pediatric emergency medicine fellows; nurses and APRNs; surgical teams, ECMO and other clinicians.

Simulation activities extend across all Indiana University School of Medicine-affiliated sites and departments as well as community emergency departments and nationwide simulation programs and institutions.

Simulation Leadership

22851-Abulebda, Kamal

Kamal Abulebda, MD

Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics

My primary mission and ongoing passion has been to ensure that acutely ill and injured children receive the highest quality of emergency care whenever and wherever it is needed. My research involves using in situ simulation to improve the quality and safety of care through work at the levels of individual healthcare providers, teams of providers, and teams of providers working within complex health systems. I successfully led the effort to establish and fund implementation of a Pediatric Community Outreach Mobile Education (PCOME) Program using innovative collaboration between the pediatric tertiary center and community emergency departments. The goal of this collaborative is to assess, measure and improve the acute care provided to ill and injured children across Indiana community emergency departments. Funded through the Indiana University Health Values Grant. Subsequently, I have served as the principal investigator on multiple funded simulation-based research projects to ensure the optimal readiness of emergency departments. Additionally, I am serving as a co-chair of national collaborative to help improve the care of ill children on a national level through ImPACTS, the Improving Pediatric Acute Care Through Simulation Network.

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13212-Yuknis, Matthew

Matthew L. Yuknis, MD

Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics

Hello. My name is Matt Yuknis. I became interested in medical simulation during my fellowship at IU School of Medicine for use in the education of trainees, but have since become more involved in its use as an assessment and educational tool for a variety of caregivers across the spectrum of medical care. My current simulation activites include assessment and training of pediatric critical care transport teams in the Lifeline organization, where I serve as the Associate Medical Director for Pediatric Critical Care. I am also the primary investigator in a multicenter national improvement collaborative using in-situ simulation in the assessment and improvement of the ability of pediatric primary care offices to manage common medical emergenices. My interests outside of medicine include spending time in the outdoors, in the kitchen, and with my wife, two daughters, son, and black lab.

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38871-Swinger, Nathan

Nathan D. Swinger, MD

Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics

Hi, my name is Nathan Swinger. I started in medical simulation during my pediatric critical care fellowship at UAB in 2014. I’ve been fortunate to learn from a number of sim educators both at UAB and at the Center for Medical Simulation in Boston and my style reflects this training, focusing on debriefing with good judgement and mastery learning using Rapid Cycle Deliberate Practice. My simulation interests include pediatric resuscitation, ECMO education, team dynamics and mastery learning. My current research focuses on comparing different simulation methodologies in training ECMO specialists. In my life outside the hospital I enjoy landscaping, cooking and spending time with my wife and our 3-year-old goldendoodle.

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Grant Funding

  • I-PREP: Indiana Pediatric Readiness Emergency Program. IU Health Values Education Grant
  • Get ED Ready: A Pediatric Outreach Mobile Program to Improve Emergency Readiness and Quality of Care. Riley Children’s Foundation Grant
  • Implementation of a Pediatric Community Outreach Mobile Education (PCOME) Program. Indiana University Health Values Grant
  • Improving the Management of the Pediatric Critical Airway. Indiana University Health Values Grant

 

Publications

Simulation program team members have published the following papers.

Collaboration

The EMSC program is a US federal government health initiative. It is administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), and the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB). The aim of the program is to reduce child and youth disability and death due to severe illness of injury by increasing awareness among health professionals, providers and planners and the general public of the special (physiological and psychological) needs of children receiving emergency medical care.

ImPACTS helps to ensure that ill and injured children receive the highest quality of emergency care whenever and wherever it is needed. ImPACTS is a multi-centered, simulation-based education and QI program with an overarching goal to enhance preparedness of all hospitals’ emergency departments and provide high-quality pediatric emergency training to all health care practitioners caring for ill and injured children. Riley Hospital for Children at Indiana University of Health is one of the leading sites of the ImPACTS collaborative and the lead site for the most recent 2018 ImPACTS protocol that focuses on improving the pediatric emergency readiness of general EDs and the structure/process of care provided to ill children in these EDs.

Team Members

22851-Abulebda, Kamal Kamal Abulebda, MD

Kamal Abulebda, MD

Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics

21726-Lutfi, Riad Riad Lutfi, MD

Riad Lutfi, MD

Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics

21526-Abu-Sultaneh, Samer Samer Abu-Sultaneh, MD

Samer Abu-Sultaneh, MD

Professor of Clinical Pediatrics

38871-Swinger, Nathan Nathan D. Swinger, MD

Nathan D. Swinger, MD

Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics

13212-Yuknis, Matthew Matthew L. Yuknis, MD

Matthew L. Yuknis, MD

Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics