Guerin Children’s Simulation Program

To improve pediatric patient solutions and outcomes through the optimal utilization of simulation for education, quality/improvement, and research promoting and maintaining psychologically safe lifelong learning.

To be an interprofessional center of excellence for pediatric simulation education and research to contribute meaningfully to locally, regionally, and globally outcomes.

We are a group of interprofessional educators with a passion for simulation educators who collaborate with subject matter experts to implement simulation curriculums for trainees, units and teams. 

The Guerin Children’s Simulation Program utilizes various simulation modalities in collaboration with the Women’s Guild Simulation Center to train, perform process improvement, and form specialized teams to deliver the highest quality of care.

State-of-the-art resources are used in the domains of:

1. Graduate Medical Education (Simulation Center and In situ Simulation) 
2. Continuing Education for practicing Professionals ((Simulation Center and In situ Simulation)
3. Diversity equity and inclusion simulation
4. Team training simulation (Congenital Cardiac ICU ECMO)
5. Team skills training (ECMO simulation)

Strategic Domains:

• Interprofessional Education
• Assessment
• Process Improvement and Systems Design
• Academic Advancement

• Optimize: Establish, implement and monitor, flexible, efficient structures and processes to improve patient outcomes.
• Accelerate: Focus on strengths by leveraging then expertise and resources within the institution for translation into innovation for dissemination.

Interprofessional Education

Provide high-quality simulation experiences across interprofessional learners across pediatrics at Cedars Sinai and Marina Del Ray Hospital

Objectives:

1. Simulation education aligns with standards of best practice.
2. Systemic evaluation and improvement of activities.
3. Faculty development efforts.

Graduate Medical Education: Residents and Fellows

Continuing Medical Education:

1. Insitu simulation training in PICU- team based
2. Insitu CCICU team-based training
3. Insitu simulation training in NICU
4. Insitu simulation training in Guerin Children’s
5. Insitu simulation training in ER
6. ECMO skills training

Formative and Summative assessments (high and low stakes) across the professional spectrum

Examples:

• NRP
• PALS 
• PFCCS
• Pediatric Skills Day (Consultation services for Health systems hospitals)
• Simulation for maintenance of physician credentialing

Simulation-based clinical systems testing (SbCST) has successfully been incorporated in order to identify LSTs prior to patient exposure and promote preparedness, easing the transition into newly built facilities or new built teams.

Examples:

• 1. Guerin Childrens Pediatric floor
• 2. Congenital Cardiac Cardiac Arrest Activation Tree
• 3. Special Pathogens Team Protocol Development

Process Improvement

• Harnessing In Situ Simulation as a Quality Improvement Tool
• PICU
• Peds floor, clinic
• NICU
• GI recovery area
• ECMO simulation

Academic Advancement:

• PEAK-II Study
• PEAK-II Trach Study
• Funded:
• DEI study: Yolanda Brown and Seth Langston
• CREWHS study: Tara Cohen and Pooja Nawathe
• ASPR funding for Special Pathogens: Pooja Nawathe

• Harwayne-Gidansky I, Zurca A, Maa T, Bhalala US, Malaiyandi D, Nawathe P, Sarwal A, Waseem M, Kenes M, Vennero M, Emlet L. Defining Priority Areas for Critical Care Simulation: A Modified Delphi Consensus Project. Cureus. 2021 Jun 22;13(6):e15844.
• Amy Parker, Amy Rice, Tara Cohen, Nicole Berndsen, Robert Wong, Rick Kim, Jeffrey Barnum, Russell Metcalfe Smith, Pooja Nawathe. In Situ Interprofessional Simulation in the Congenital Cardiac Intensive Care Unit Using the Pearls Framework For Systems Integration. Proceedings of the International Symposium on Human Factors and Ergonomics in Health Care. 2021;10(1):95-98. Role: Senior Author.
• P. I. Watts, D. S. McDermott, G. Alinier, M. Charnetski, J. Ludlow, E. Horsley, C. Meakim, P.A. Nawathe. Healthcare Simulation Standards of Best Practice Simulation Design. Clinical Simulation In Nursing 2021 Vol. 58 Pages 14-21
• Brown-Madan Y, Williams A, Langston S. Addressing implicit bias and health disparities in a level IV NICU. J Perinatol. 2023 Jul 28. 
• Kanji F, Nawathe P, Cohen T. A Human Factors Approach for Event Analysis in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. J Pediatr Child Care. 2023;9(1): 08.
• Nawathe PA, Kessler DO, Yurasek G, Sawyer TL, Halamek LP, Stone K, Ramachandra G, Maa T, Tofil N, Doughty C, Thyagarajan S, White ML, Damazo R, Calhoun A. The Need for Simulation-Based Procedural Skills Training to Address Proposed Changes in Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Requirements for Pediatric Residency Programs. Simul Healthc. 2023 Dec 1;18(6):416-418.