Mary Kay Smith, Ph.D., RN, CHSE, FSSH, is an associate professor and executive director of the Michigan State University Learning and Assessment Center (LAC). She is a Distinguished Fellow in the Society for Simulation in Healthcare (SSIH) – the only one in the state of Michigan – and has served as chair of the SSIH Accreditation Council.
When did the LAC open?
The LAC opened in 2005 and in 2011 was among the first 20 institutions to receive accreditation in research, teaching and assessment. The LAC was the first comprehensive simulation site at Michigan State University, which serves over 10,000 learners per year, implementing both onsite and virtual simulations.
The center encompasses over 12,000 square feet of space utilized for both learning (formative) and competency assessment (summative) of skills. The LAC has a longstanding history of facilitating interprofessional education, which includes learners across campus who learn with, from and about each other.
Why is the LAC important?
The LAC provides an environment where real clinical situations are replicated so students can apply the skills they’ve learned in the classroom using a variety of simulation methods. This promotes transformative learning and has been empirically proven to promote safer, better quality of care for patients.
“The Learning and Assessment Center is essential to shaping the future of our students’ medical education,” said Joyce deJong, D.O., dean of Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine, which serves as the lead college for the LAC. “Here, our students are immersed in dynamic, hands-on simulations that mirror the complexities of real-world patient care, allowing them to hone critical skills and develop the confidence needed to excel as health care leaders from day one.”
Historically, the LAC has served the university’s medical and nursing colleges at MSU – the Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine, Human Medicine, Nursing and Veterinary Medicine. There are also additional programs within the colleges that have been added since the beginning, such as the MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine’s Physician Assistant Program students, who benefit from this type of learning and assessment.
Please explain how you work with the health care colleges.
The LAC team works closely with faculty to design, develop and evaluate simulation activities supporting the various curriculums. We have a team of certified experts in simulation who work with the primary college contact to conceptualize and operationalize the activity to meet the objectives. We are fortunate to have a variety of tools to accomplish this, such as human patient simulators (robots), task trainers and extended reality (VR, AR and AI). We also have one of the largest standardized patient programs in the United States with over 240 individuals who portray cases, which could also be utilized by other colleges on campus.
The field of health care simulation has expanded exponentially over the previous 20 years and shows no signs of slowing down. One that has been of particular interest lately is the use of artificial intelligence (AI). We already work with virtual patients; adding AI adds a complex layer and allows students to interact with a virtual patient and receive immediate feedback. This has the potential to expand use of simulation, promote self-directed learning and save faculty time. We’re just really starting to explore all the possibilities in the field.
In addition to the colleges, the LAC facilitates simulation experiences for MSU Health Care and multiple programs for the MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine’s Statewide Campus System’s graduate medical education (GME) that serves practicing clinicians throughout the state of Michigan.
How has the work expanded?
One of the silver linings of COVID was that we implemented new simulation modalities. For example, “telesimulation” was developed immediately at MSU, which allowed us to deliver simulation activities virtually. We were amazed at the broad success with learners being situated as far away as Alaska! Another benefit of telesimulation is that it replicates telehealth delivery, which has become a frequent approach to patient care now, and our students are well-prepared for this when they graduate. Interestingly, the post pandemic period has not shown any signs of telesimulations slowing down.
Along with this, the health care college curriculums have transitioned to competency-based, which has huge implications for simulation as students are often assessed in standardized conditions versus in the dynamic clinical environment.
We also work with critical access hospitals to provide simulation experiences in clinical settings throughout the state Michigan, which we proudly operationalize as part of MSU’s land grant mission. One of the organizations is the Michigan Center for Rural Health, which is on MSU’s campus and has been a longstanding supporter of simulation and the benefit to practicing clinicians who sometimes have limited access to resources for professional development.
Who are some of the other partners you have worked with at MSU?
We have several partnerships on campus, including the School of Packaging, which we have been working with for medical device development and packaging design for 15 years.
This partnership “is an example of a real strength of the MSU culture, the value that is placed on interdisciplinary collaboration,” said Laura Bix, Ph.D., associate dean for Graduate Studies in the MSU College of Agriculture and Natural Resources and interim director and professor, School of Packaging. “Packaging students, and professionals working in industry, have been able to investigate the performance of sterile barrier systems within realistic care contexts without violating privacy or interfering with patient care and health care providers (existing and burgeoning) have been afforded a communication channel to a major industry that serves them. The end results have been greater levels of interaction between these two disparate communities that have been historically siloed from one another.”
We’ve worked on developing software for virtual reality with the GEL (Games for Entertainment and Learning) Lab at MSU. We’ve also worked with Jeff Searl, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Communicative Sciences & Disorders in the MSU College of Communications Arts and Sciences, who we’ve collaborated with on a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant to develop virtual reality to teach interdisciplinary care of patients with tracheotomies.
We’re excited to team up with even more partners across campus. For example, we might envision standardized patients or clients facilitating invaluable “real life” interactions with students in social work, communicative disorders, psychology, criminal justice (de-escalation), law, business (HR interactions) … the possibilities considering the programs at MSU are limitless!
Finally, research is another potential area for the application of simulation. Standardized patients are just that – very standardized. We often support research that can test certain approaches to patient care in a safe environment. We do the same with packaging, and we interface with industry – large companies that develop packaging in medical devices and collaborate and work with them to promote safer patient care. This also reduces costs.
We can also test specific simulation methodologies contributing to the broader field of simulation. I would welcome the opportunity to broaden collaborations!
How can someone reach out for potential collaborations?
If you have questions, would like to tour the facility, talk about what may be possible or just like to learn more, please email or call me at mksmith@msu.edu or (517) 353-5162.