Social distancing simulation during the COVID-19 health crisis

Since the initial recognition of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that causes the potentially life-threatening respiratory illness known as COVID-19, many aspects of everyday life and the healthcare ecosystem have been confronted with unprecedented challenges. Hospitals throughout the nation, and the world, have been confronted with the need to rapidly refresh and reinforce healthcare workers’ (HCWs) routine procedural skills (eg. hand hygiene, personal protective equipment (PPE), and airway management) as well as develop new algorithms for the triage, isolation, and on-going treatment of infected and potentially-infected patients. Our organisation, like many, has prioritised not only the health of our patients but also the health of their families and our staff in order to restrict the number of infected individuals. Faced with mounting requests for simulation-based training and the rapidly expanding guidelines published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),1 our organisation chose to employ virtual meetings and virtual simulation strategies to evaluate multiple hospital algorithms, including the assessment and admission of a pregnant woman with suspected or confirmed COVID-19. This scenario was identified by our institution as a high priority, necessary to identify and contain the spread of infection at the most critical point, presentation to the hospital. Virtual simulation and debriefing have emerged as a key component of our strategy to evaluate hospital procedures and train HCWs while adhering to appropriate social distancing guidelines. The objectives of our virtual simulation and debriefing …