Abstract
Introduction
Simulation is widely considered as a valuable tool in medical education. It offers a controlled 'practice' environment for all medical professionals to develop their skills clinically and in communication. Geriatric medicine is a complex speciality in which simulation can be particularly beneficial, allowing trainees to manage age-related conditions and multimorbidity in a safe setting, where errors can be corrected and through reflection, practice can be improved. By using simulation, Mersey trainees have enhanced their confidence in managing the unique challenges of caring for older adults.
Methods
The Mersey deanery trainee representatives for geriatrics worked alongside medical education faculty at two simulation centres (Aintree and Whiston) to develop tailored scenarios from real-world experience covering deteriorating patients with frailty and multimorbidity. Simulation technology was used and each session included specific communication scenarios mirroring difficulties faced by the medical registrar looking after older adults, which is different from the deanery-provided GIM simulation training. Four sessions have been delivered to date, with further sessions planned twice a year going forwards. Scenario feedback focuses on non-technical skills and human factors.
Results
Feedback for the training sessions has been excellent. All participants at the most recent session in May 2025 reported the training was 'excellent' or 'good' and all agreed that their confidence was improved in managing clinically unwell patients. Feedback from each previous session has been used to inform the development of subsequent sessions.
Conclusion
The use of simulation is a well validated tool in improving confidence in clinical scenarios while maintaining safety in a controlled environment. The specific tailoring of scenarios to specialty trainees improved confidence in managing the complexities associated with the deteriorating frail patient. Feedback is strongly positive and support from local simulation centres ensures we can continue to offer this specialised simulation training to our registrars in the future.
Comments
Really great use of…
Really great use of simulation to manage complex patients with great results show. Was this only for those of reg level as mentioned? I can see this being useful for all grades, including medical students, to show the complexity of decision making!
Reply
Thanks for your comment. At this stage, this was only aimed at geriatric medicine trainees. Great idea to involve other members of the MDT for training though, we will look into this for future events.
Interesting use of…
Interesting use of simulation in a more common than not scenario and pragmatism is essential. Unsure numbers of faculty involved per session but could be expanded to include simulated MDT/relatives to further expand the human factors/comms skills simulation e.g. challenging decision making within the team/by family.
Reply
Thanks for your comment. We did use simulated relatives in some of our scenarios, and in some cases we would run an emergency simulation scenario, then the next scenario would be explaining what had happened to a relative. We also had a communication scenario which included helping a trainee in difficulty to try and vary the training for learners.
Well done
If there was a “like” function for those without very bright comments to add, I would use it here.
Thanks
Thanks for your comment!
Excellent Work
Amazing work putting all this together yourselves. Even attending as TPD I found it useful !