Co-constructive Patient Simulation: A Learner-Centered Method to Enhance Communication and Reflection Skills

When Play Reveals the Ache: Introducing Co-constructive Patient Simulation for Narrative Practitioners in Medical Education

Despite the ubiquity of healthcare simulation and the humanities in medical education, the two domains of learning remain unintegrated. The stories suffused within healthcare simulation have thus remained unshaped by the developments of narrative medicine and the health humanities. Healthcare simulation, in turn, has yet to utilize concepts like co-construction and narrative competence to enrich learners' understanding of patient experience alongside their clinical competencies. To create a conceptual bridge between these two fields (including narrative-based inquiry more broadly), we redescribe narrative competence via Ronald Heifetz's distinction of "technical" and "adaptive" challenges outlined in his adaptive leadership model. Heifetz, we argue, enriches learners' self-understanding of the unique demands of cultivating narrative competence, which can be both elucidated on the page and tested within the charged yet supportive simulation environment. We introduce Co-constructive Patient Simulation (CCPS) to demonstrate how working with simulated patients can support narrative work by drawing on the clinical vicissitudes of learners in the formulation and enactment of case studies. The three movements of CCPS-resensing, retelling, and retooling-told through learner experiences, describe the affinities and divergences between narrative medicine's sequence of attention, representation, and affiliation; Montello's three forms of narrative competence (departure, performance, change), and Heifetz's three steps (observe, interpret, and intervene) of adaptive leadership.

Embracing different languages and local differences: Co-constructive patient simulation strengthens host countries' clinical training in psychiatry

BACKGROUND

Global education in psychiatry is heavily influenced by knowledge from Western, high-income countries, which obscures local voices and expertise.

AIM

To adapt a human simulation model to psychiatric education in a context that is specific to local languages and cultures.

METHODS

We conducted an observational study consisting of six human simulation sessions with standardized patients from two host countries, speaking their native languages, and following an adaptation of the co-constructive patient simulation (CCPS) model. As local faculty became increasingly familiar with the CCPS approach, they took on the role of facilitators-in their country's native language.

RESULTS

Fifty-three learners participated: 19 child and adolescent psychiatry trainees and 3 faculty members in Türkiye (as a group that met online during 3 consecutive months); and 24 trainees and 7 faculty in Israel (divided into 3 groups, in parallel in-person sessions during a single training day). Each of the six cases reflected local realities and clinical challenges, and was associated with specific learning goals identified by each case-writing trainee.

CONCLUSION

Human simulation has not been fully incorporated into psychiatric education: The creation of immersive clinical experiences and the strengthening of reflective practice are two areas ripe for development. Our adaptations of CCPS can also strengthen local and regional networks and psychiatric communities of practice. Finally, the model can help question and press against hegemonies in psychiatric training that overshadow local expertise.

Family dyads, emotional labor, and holding environments in the simulated encounter: co-constructive patient simulation as a reflective tool in child and adolescent psychiatry training

BACKGROUND

Patient simulation has been used in medical education to provide a safe and supportive learning environment for learners to practice clinical and interpersonal skills. However, simulation involving pediatric populations, particularly in child and adolescent psychiatry, is rare and generally does not reflect the child-caregiver dyad or the longitudinal aspects of this care, nor does it provide learners with an opportunity to engage with and reflect on these dynamics.

METHODS

We organized as an educational opportunity a series of seven observed patient simulation sessions with a cohort of a dozen child and adolescent psychiatrists (eight fellows approaching graduation and four senior educators). In these sessions, we utilized the co-constructive patient simulation model to create the simulation cases. We included the use of at least two patient actors in most sessions, and two of the case narratives were longitudinally followed across multiple simulation sessions. We approached the data collected during the simulations and their respective debriefings by using thematic analysis informed by a symbolic interactionist approach.

RESULTS

Based on data from the debriefing sessions and longitudinal narratives, we identified four overarching themes: (1) Reflecting on dyadic challenges: role reversal and individuation; (2) Centering the child, allying with the parent, and treating the family system; (3) Ambivalence in and about the parent-child dyad; and (4) Longitudinal narratives and ambivalence over time.

CONCLUSION

The emotional experience of the simulations, for interviewers and observers alike, provided an opportunity to reflect on personal and professional experiences and triggered meaningful insights and connections between participants. These simulated cases called for emotional labor, particularly in the form of creating holding environments; in this way, the simulated encounters and the debriefing sessions became dialogic experiences, in which the patient and provider, parent and child, and learner and instructor could co-construct meaning and foster professional development as reflective practitioners.

The Role of Large Language Models in Medical Education: Applications and Implications

Large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT have sparked extensive discourse within the medical education community, spurring both excitement and apprehension. Written from the perspective of medical students, this editorial offers insights gleaned through immersive interactions with ChatGPT, contextualized by ongoing research into the imminent role of LLMs in health care. Three distinct positive use cases for ChatGPT were identified: facilitating differential diagnosis brainstorming, providing interactive practice cases, and aiding in multiple-choice question review. These use cases can effectively help students learn foundational medical knowledge during the preclinical curriculum while reinforcing the learning of core Entrustable Professional Activities. Simultaneously, we highlight key limitations of LLMs in medical education, including their insufficient ability to teach the integration of contextual and external information, comprehend sensory and nonverbal cues, cultivate rapport and interpersonal interaction, and align with overarching medical education and patient care goals. Through interacting with LLMs to augment learning during medical school, students can gain an understanding of their strengths and weaknesses. This understanding will be pivotal as we navigate a health care landscape increasingly intertwined with LLMs and artificial intelligence.

Anti-Black racism in clinical supervision: asynchronous simulated encounters facilitate reflective practice

Background Racist interactions in clinical practice remain a pervasive reality for Black healthcare providers. We sought to develop a framework to inform supervisors' actions when confronting racism in clinical practice and protecting trainees under their oversight. Methods We conducted a qualitative study in which experienced supervisors responded to seven short, videotaped interactions between: 1) Black trainees and a simulated patient (SP) in a racist role; 2) the trainees and their respective supervisors; and 3) the trainees and their supervisors together with the SP. The clinical exchanges exemplified different types of racist (entrenching) or antiracist (uprooting) behaviors by the supervisors. After viewing each clip, participants wrote their reflections confidentially; they later joined a structured debriefing together. We used thematic analysis to identify supervisors' behavioral patterns when confronting racist interactions. Results Based on the input of 52 participants recruited into five two-hour-long sessions, we categorized the behaviors of supervisors facing anti-Black racial injuries involving learners under their oversight. We organized supervisor behaviors into five interlocking domains, each with a range of possible themes: 1) Joining: from conciliatory to confrontational in communicating with the aggressor; 2) Explicitness: from avoiding to naming racism; 3) Ownership: from individual to shared responsibility of the event and the response to it; 4) Involving: from excusing to including the aggrieved party when confronting the aggressor; and 5) Stance: from protective to paternalistic in supporting the learner's autonomy. Conclusions Our qualitative findings can provide a framework for facilitated discussion toward reflective practice among healthcare providers who may have experienced, witnessed, or intervened in anti-Black racist interactions. They can also help medical educators to inform faculty development to fight anti-Black racism in clinical practice. The video materials we developed are available for viewing and download and can be used or adapted as springboards for reflective discussion or faculty development activities.

Co-constructive Veterinary Simulation: A Novel Approach to Enhancing Clinical Communication and Reflection Skills

Interpersonal communication is critical in training, licensing, and post-graduate maintenance of certification in veterinary medicine. Simulation has a vital role in advancing these skills, but even sophisticated simulation models have pedagogic limitations. Specifically, with learning goals and case scenarios designed by instructors, interaction with simulated participants (SPs) can become performative or circumscribed to evaluative assessments. This article describes co-constructive veterinary simulation (CCVS), an adaptation of a novel approach to participatory simulation that centers on learner-driven goals and individually tailored scenarios. CCVS involves a first phase of scriptwriting, in which a learner collaborates with a facilitator and a professional actor in developing a client-patient case scenario. In a second phase, fellow learners have a blinded interaction with the SP-in-role, unaware of the underlying clinical situation. In the final part, all learners come together for a debriefing session centered on reflective practice. The authors provide guidelines for learners to gain maximal benefit from their participation in CCVS sessions and describe thematic possibilities to incorporate into the model, with specific case examples drawn from routine veterinary practice. Finally, the authors outline challenges and future directions toward implementing CCVS in veterinary medical education toward the ultimate goal of professional growth and co-evolution as veterinary practitioners.

Anti-Black racism in clinical supervision: asynchronous simulated encounters facilitate reflective practice

Background Racist interactions in clinical practice remain a pervasive reality for Black healthcare providers. We sought to develop a framework to inform supervisors’ actions when confronting racism in clinical practice and protecting trainees under their oversight. Methods We conducted a prospective study in which experienced supervisors responded to seven short, videotaped interactions between: 1) Black trainees and a simulated patient (SP) in a racist role; 2) the trainees and their respective supervisors; and 3) the trainees and their supervisors together with the SP. The clinical exchanges exemplified different types of racist (entrenching) or antiracist (uprooting) behaviors by the supervisors. After viewing each clip, participants wrote their reflections confidentially; they later joined a structured debriefing together. We used thematic analysis to identify supervisors’ behavioral patterns when confronting racist interactions. Results Based on the input of 52 participants recruited into five two-hour-long sessions, we categorized the behaviors of supervisors facing anti-Black racial injuries involving learners under their oversight. We organized supervisor behaviors into five interlocking domains, each with a range of possible themes: 1) Joining: from conciliatory to confrontational in communicating with the aggressor; 2) Explicitness: from avoiding to naming racism; 3) Ownership: from individual to shared responsibility of the event and the response to it; 4) Involving: from excusing to including the aggrieved party when confronting the aggressor; and 5) Stance: from protective to paternalistic in supporting the learner’s autonomy. Conclusions Our qualitative findings can provide a framework for facilitated discussion toward reflective practice among healthcare providers who may have experienced, witnessed, or intervened in anti-Black racist interactions. They can also help medical educators to inform faculty development to fight anti-Black racism in clinical practice. The video materials we developed are available for viewing and download and can be used or adapted as springboards for reflective discussion or faculty development activities.

Making It Real: From Telling to Showing, Sharing, and Doing in Psychiatric Education

OBJECTIVE

Innovations in contemporary medical education could inform remedies to address enduring challenges such as the marginalization and stigmatization of psychiatry, of mental illnesses, and of those affected by them.

METHODS

In blending the works of Bleakley, Bligh, and Brown (2011) and of Kumagai and Naidu (2015), we developed an overarching heuristic with practical relevance and concrete applications to psychiatric education.

RESULTS

We identify three areas to enhance psychiatric education embedded into this blended framework: 1) Showing, or the more accurate depiction or imaging of mental illnesses and of psychiatric practice, as exemplified by the incorporation into didactic content of asynchronous video-based clinical materials produced with specific educational objectives in mind; 2) Sharing, or addressing the image problem of mental illnesses, of those living with or affected by them, and of psychiatry as a profession, as exemplified by psychiatrists embracing their role as experts by professional and personal experience when sharing their own journeys with mental illness, treatment, and recovery; and 3) Doing, or reimagining reflective psychiatric practice, as exemplified by the novel methodology of co-constructive patient simulation (CCPS), through which learners can engage in reflective practice and supervision in a participatory and democratic setting that does not privilege participants' hierarchical standing.

CONCLUSION

The blended model and the sample applications we describe offer a range of teaching, learning, and professional development opportunities, should psychiatric educators choose to pursue them and reap their promise.

Simulation Training in Psychiatry for Medical Education: A Review

Despite recognised benefits of Simulation-Based Education (SBE) in healthcare, specific adaptations required within psychiatry have slowed its adoption. This article aims to discuss conceptual and practical features of SBE in psychiatry that may support or limit its development, so as to encourage clinicians and educators to consider the implementation of SBE in their practice. SBE took off with the aviation industry and has been steadily adopted in clinical education, alongside role play and patient educators, across many medical specialities. Concurrently, healthcare has shifted towards patient-centred approaches and clinical education has recognised the importance of reflective learning and teaching centred on learners' experiences. SBE is particularly well-suited to promoting a holistic approach to care, reflective learning, emotional awareness in interactions and learning, cognitive reframing, and co-construction of knowledge. These features present an opportunity to enhance education throughout the healthcare workforce, and align particularly well to psychiatric education, where interpersonal and relational dimensions are at the core of clinical skills. Additionally, SBE provides a strategic opportunity for people with lived experience of mental disorders to be directly involved in clinical education. However, tenacious controversies have questioned the adequacy of SBE in the psychiatric field, possibly limiting its adoption. The ability of simulated patients (SPs) to portray complex and contradictory cognitive, psychological and emotional states has been questioned. The validity of SBE to develop a genuine empathetic understanding of patients, to facilitate a comprehensive multiaxial diagnostic formulation, or to develop flexible interpersonal skills has been criticised. Finally, SBE's relevance to developing complex psychotherapeutic skills is much debated, while issues such as symptom induction in SPs or patients involvement raise ethical dilemmas. These controversies can be addressed through adequate evidence, robust learning design, and high standards of practice. Well-designed simulated scenarios can promote a positive consideration of mental disorders and complex clinical skills. Shared guidelines and scenario libraries for simulation can be developed, with expert psychiatrists, patients and students involvement, to offer SPs and educators a solid foundation to develop training. Beyond scenario design, the nuances and complexities in mental healthcare are also duly acknowledged during the debriefing phases, providing a crucial opportunity to reflect on complex interpersonal skills or the role of emotions in clinicians' behaviour. Considered recruitment and support of SPs by clinical educators can help to maintain psychological safety and manage ethical issues. The holistic and reflexive nature of SBE aligns to the rich humanistic tradition nurtured within psychiatry and medicine, presenting the opportunity to expand the use of SBE to support a range of clinical skills and workforce competencies required in psychiatry.

Delivering Difficult News: Simulation-Enhanced Training Improves Psychiatry Residents' Clinical Communication Skills

Background: Delivering difficult news to individuals diagnosed with mental health disorders and their family members can be challenging. The use of simulated patients (SP) is an effective teaching method to enhance clinical skills, particularly those around communication. We developed, implemented, and evaluated the effectiveness of an SP-based training module to improve psychiatric residents' clinical communication skills in delivering difficult news. Methods: We conducted 5-h workshops consisting of 3 components: (1) a high-fidelity simulation session with a professional actor; (2) a 30-min lecture; and (3) role-playing of 3 short scenarios, during which residents rotated taking on different roles (as psychiatrist, patient, or family member). We observed through a 1-way mirror and videotaped each resident's simulation session and followed it with personalized debriefing. Following the workshop, each resident received the full-length video of their simulated interview, together with a list of questions as a take-home assignment. Two months after the workshop, the residents were invited to a second SP-based session, during which 2 independent evaluators, each a board-certified psychiatrist with expertise in medical simulation, evaluated the participants' communication skills using a previously validated instrument. To avoid observation bias, the 2 evaluators rated the videotapes blind to the timing of the simulation (pre- vs. post-training). Participants completed self-report questionnaires on satisfaction and self-confidence, before, after, and 2 months following the workshop. Findings: Of the 28 psychiatric residents who participated in the training day, 24 (86%) completed the post-workshop evaluation. Mean communication score increased from 24.9 to 27.8 (paired t-test: 5.6, p < 0.001). The mean score for the self-confidence questionnaire, calculated on a 1 to 5 Likert scale, increased from 3.4 to 4.0 after the training day, and remained unchanged (4.2) 2 months later (p < 0.001). Conclusions: An SP-based training module proved useful in improving the objectively measured communication skills of psychiatric residents delivering difficult news. The training further enhanced participants' subjective sense of confidence in those clinical skills.

From Learning Psychiatry to Becoming Psychiatrists: A Qualitative Study of Co-constructive Patient Simulation

Objectives: Co-constructive patient simulation (CCPS) is a novel medical education approach that provides a participatory and emotionally supportive alternative to traditional supervision and training. CCPS can adapt iteratively and in real time to emergent vicissitudes and challenges faced by clinicians. We describe the first implementation of CCPS in psychiatry. Methods: We co-developed clinical scripts together with child and adolescent psychiatry senior fellows and professional actors with experience performing as simulated patients (SPs). We conducted the simulation sessions with interviewers blind to the content of case scenarios enacted by the SPs. Each hour-long simulation was followed by an hour-long debriefing session with all participants. We recorded and transcribed case preparation, simulation interactions, and debriefing sessions, and analyzed anonymized transcripts through qualitative analysis within a constructivist framework, aided by NVivo software. Results: Each of six CCPS sessions was attended by a median of 13 participants (range, 11-14). The first three sessions were conducted in person; the last three, which took place during the COVID-19 pandemic, via synchronized videoconferencing. Each of the sessions centered on clinically challenging and affectively charged situations informed by trainees' prior experiences. Through iterative thematic analysis we derived an alliterating "9R" model centered on three types of Reflection: (a) in action/"while doing" (Regulate, Relate, and Reason); (b) on action/"having done" (Realities, Restraints, and Relationships); and (c) for action/"will be doing" (with opportunities for Repair and Reaffirmation). Conclusions: CCPS is an experiential approach that fosters autonomous, meaningful, and individually tailored learning opportunities. CCPS and the 9R model for reflective practice can be effectively applied to psychiatry and have the potential to contribute uniquely to the educational needs of its trainees and practitioners.