InSim 7

Report from InSiM 7 - the 7th International Interdisciplinary German Speaking Simulation Symposium InSiM 2009

InSiM – the International Interdisciplinary German Speaking Simulation Symposium

InSiM was started 7 years ago by Marcus Rall and Peter Dieckmann at TuPASS - the Center for Patient Safety and Simulation in Tubingen, Germany. After 4 years in Tubingen, it was decided to move InSiM around, so InSiM 5 was hosted by the team in Gottingen, Germany (Timmermann, Eich), InSiM 6 and 7 took place in Munich and was co-organised by the Institute for Emergency Medicine INM and the department for anaesthesiology at the University of Munich Hospital.InSiM is since 7 years the international interdisciplinary simulation meeting for the German-speaking countries (Switzerland, Austria & Germany) which attracted more than 110 participants in 2009. Participants were truly interdisciplinary: nurses, paramedics, physicians from different fields, psychologists, educators, technicians, naval officers, flight crew trainers and medical students. The concept of InSiM is a very active workshop style conference with only a few lectures and talks in between. Therefore it was no wonder that 40 of the over 110 participants were somehow actively involved as faculty. With the help of the local organisers in Munich (Benedikt Sandmeyer, Marc Lazarovici, Christian Lackner, Heiko Baschnegger to name a few) InSiM 2009 was a great success and offered a broad spectrum of interactive possibilities for the participants. There was a broad coverage of many medical fields: while anesthesia, intensive care and prehospital emergency medicine are still leading the field, a growing part came from pediatric and neonatology, cardiology (cath lab trainers and emergency team training), paramedics and nursing applications.

At InSiM 7 simulation was covered besides the above mentioned applications in diverse contexts: simulation of neurosurgery, lung models, airway tests and VR-simulators.

A special focus at InSim is traditionally on learning with simulation and on Human factors issues especially crisis resource management CRM. The invited keynote presentation by Theo Wehner (Institute for Organisational & Work Psychology, ETH Zurich) offered a broad vision on learning and especially deeper learning in the context of simulation (from single loop learning to double loop learning to deuteron-learning), which we should probably apply more systematically. This talk was seconded by a very well reflected talk from the actual SESAM president Peter Dieckmann on requirements of reflective learning. The lecture on New Trends in Simulation by Marcus Rall pointed out to continue to focus on full team training, including the contributory factors of errors in the area of human factors and CRM as well as the concept of mobile in-situ trainings. The effect of training of a full department in a short period of time (departmental block training) seems especially promising in starting a change in CRM application in the real world and starting a new safety culture.

A large track inside InSiM 7 was besides many different debriefing workshops, the standarisation and possibly certification of simulation, be it as a certificate for a sim center or for individual instructors. Here it proved that although experts seem to agree in many aspects of what is really good and what is really unacceptable instructor behaviour it will remain difficult to agree on a standardisation method or model and on the way of proof: portfolio application, written and or oral tests etc? As SESAM as well as SSH are going toward accreditation/certification, we will see what the status is at InSiM 2010.

InSiM 8 will take place in Basel with support of the local team (Stefan Gisin). InSiM is open for all simulation enthusiasts who speak German, be it from Austria, Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands or Scandinavia. InSiM 8 will be held on October 15 and 16 2010. Basel is one of the birth places of simulation team training in Europe (Wilhelm Tell concept) and Stefan Gisin (Head of Simulation in Basel) will provide another attractive simulation meeting according to the InSiM principles: interdisciplinary, international (though German-speaking), full interactive with a low distance between faculty and participants, many options to interchange ideas and concepts, learning from professionals in their field (learning, CRM, debriefing etc) and having a good time in an international stimulating audience.  

InSiM is endorsed by SESAM. Ideas for workshops and lectures for InSiM 2010 Oct 15/16 in Basel are welcome anytime at www.insim.info (email@insim.info).

(Report by Marcus Rall, Benedikt Sandmeyer & the InSiM Team)