Feedback practices by simulated participants as educators in communication skills training: A BEME Scoping Review

Dr Andrea Doyle lead reviewer, BSc Hons (Physics), PGDip MedPhys, PhD, Postdoctoral Researcher, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ireland. Dr Andrea Doyle is a medical physicist, and a postdoctoral researcher at the SIM Centre for Simulation Education and Research at RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dublin. She served as a member of the BEME board in 2020, and contributed to two BEME reviews examining the health professions education response to the C-19 pandemic. She has also supported staff involved in systematic reviews and educational research, and in raising awareness of the evidence base for best educational practice among faculty, as a member of the RCSI BICC in 2020. Her research and training in medical physics and healthcare technology uniquely equipped her to work collaboratively with health professionals in multi-disciplinary teams to develop training pathways informed by specific clinical critical competencies and underpinned through the development of anthropomorphic physical simulation devices. Andrea’s research interests are in the areas of medical education and simulation, and the development of best evidence medical education training tools and training programs for continued education and professional development.

Ms Clare Sullivan, BE, MSc, CEng MIEI, Cert (Simulated and Standardized Patients), Researcher and Simulated Patient Coordinator, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ireland. Clare Sullivan is a Researcher in Simulation at the SIM Centre for Simulation Education and Research at RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dublin. She has expertise in healthcare simulation and medical technology. As a chartered engineer with a qualification also in occupational therapy, her background has given her the skills to understand technology and how technology supports and facilitates how people live and learn. She has been working in healthcare simulation for seven years during which time she was instrumental in establishing a bank of in-house trained simulated patients at RCSI. She has coordinated the running of many simulated patient training events and most recently coordinated the training of the RCSI simulated patients for online teaching during COVID. She played a large role in planning for and managing the transition of simulation-based education in RCSI to the new National Surgical and Clinical Skills Centre which opened in July 2017. Clare has led simulation-based research projects in RCSI and has presented at national and international conferences including SimGhosts, AMEE and ICCH.

Ms Michelle O’Toole, BSc, GDip, MA, CCISM, Researcher, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences.Michelle O’Toole is a Researcher at the RCSI SIM, Centre for Simulation Education and Research in the Royal College of Surgeons (RCSI), Dublin. She is experienced and accredited as a Paramedic Tutor, with specific expertise in teaching communication skills to Firefighters and Paramedics. She is an experienced peer supporter and mentor, gaining accreditation in Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) with the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation (ICISF). During her Masters in Psychological Trauma, she studied qualitative methodology, particularly interpretative phenomenological analysis. Her research interests include wellbeing, peer support, post-traumatic growth following adversity and the use of simulation to prepare learners for real world experiences.

Dr Naoise Collins, BEd, MSc, PhD, Postdoctoral Researcher, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ireland. Dr Naoise Collins is an educational design expert and a postdoctoral researcher at the SIM Centre for Simulation Education and Research at RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dublin. He has extensive experience developing educational tools to improve the educational environment of learners. He is specifically interested in underpinning educational design into theoretical frameworks to account for the learning that takes place. He is a mixed methodologist with a keen interest in medical education and simulation with a PhD in situated learning through virtual reality.

Mr Paul Murphy, MLIS, Information Specialist, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ireland. Mr Paul J Murphy, is an information specialist with the Library, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, and he was previously medical librarian of University College Dublin. He is a member of the European Association for Health Information and Libraries. Paul has extensive expertise in literature searching for clinical systematic reviews, clinical guidelines, Best Evidence Medical Education (BEME) reviews, and evidence summaries.

Dr Claire Mulhall BA Mod (Geology), PhD, DMS, Research Programme Manager, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ireland. Dr Claire Mulhall is the Research Programme Manager at the RCSI SIM Centre for Simulation Education and Research at RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dublin. With over 20 years’ experience as a programme manager, Dr Mulhall builds strategic partnerships and manages relationships with both internal and external stakeholders including research collaborators and funding agencies. She supports staff involved in qualitative research, systematic reviews and other simulation-based research projects. She is currently finalising a systematic review of her own which looks at the barriers and facilitators to inter-disciplinary collaboration on surgical ward rounds.

Prof. Walter Eppich, MD, PhD, FSSH, Professor and Chair of RCSI SIM, the Centre for Simulation Education and Research, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences Ireland. With a clinical background as an emergency paediatrician, Prof. Eppich’s research uses qualitative methodologies to study synergies between simulation and workplace learning in the areas of team reflection, healthcare debriefing, and team adaptation. He earned a PhD in Medical Education from Maastricht University with a thesis focused on conversational learning. He has co-authored over 80 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. He collaborates with team and organizational psychologists to study team processes both in and outside healthcare. In 2018, he travelled to Antarctica to perform ethnographic field observations and in-depth qualitative interviews to investigate how Antarctic research teams adapt to ever-changing conditions in extreme environments. His research program seeks to delineate the contribution of workplace talk and team interactions to learning and performance.

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