Come to work with a simulation operations manager

McMaster University’s Faculty of Health Sciences is powered by nearly 1,500 staff members. In the series “Come to work with,” we’re profiling staff across the faculty and the critical work they do.

Bingxian Wang is a simulation operations manager with McMaster’s Centre for Simulation-Based Learning (CSBL), a resource that recreates realistic clinical settings for the purpose of education and training. We spoke with Wang about how simulation enhances health care education, the satisfaction of contributing to safer patient outcomes and more confident health care providers, and what pilots and providers have in common.

Who are you and what is your role with McMaster?

I’m a simulation operations manager for the Centre for Simulation-Based Learning. My role is to support the simulation training needs for all Faculty of Health Sciences health care programs. That includes the undergraduate medical education program, nursing, midwifery, physician assistant, physiotherapy, occupational therapy and Bachelor of Health Sciences program. We also support the postgraduate medical education residency training and there are lots of specialties under that umbrella, for example anesthesia, pediatrics, surgery, emergency medicine, internal medicine, to name a few.

For those who don’t know much about the Centre for Simulation-Based Learning, what is it?

The CBSL is a resource that programs use to support simulation training for students. Simulation training is a teaching method that mimics a real-life situation so that students can practice and learn before they enter the real world or have a real patient encounter. We have two major programs in our centre: the standardized patient program and the simulation program.

The standardized patient program uses real people from all kinds of backgrounds who are trained to portray an actual patient. Students can practice how to take a medical history or perform a physical examination on the patient actor.

The simulation program leans more on technology and equipment. We use full-body patient simulators – also called manikins – or part-task trainers to practice a skill in isolation. Both types of equipment are made with materials that look very realistic. With the full-body simulators, we run immersive, high-fidelity theatre-based simulation scenarios for trainees so they can practice managing a given patient case. With the part-task trainers, students can practice skills such as how to insert an IV catheter into an arm, or how to put an endotracheal tube into the trachea for airway intubation.

What is a typical day like for you?

A lot of my time is spent working with programs, trying to meet their needs. We take annual bookings from all programs and then we slot them into our calendar. I always look forward to the next few weeks to see what’s coming and how we can prepare for those upcoming sessions. It’s a lot of planning and preparation. Each session requires tailored support including various combinations of space, staff and equipment. Our centre isn’t just a service provider, we also have a lot of expertise. Many staff have been with the CSBL for over a decade! We bring our knowledge and expertise into the planning when we support each program.

You’re one of the Centre for Simulation-Based Learning staff members who have been with McMaster for over 10 years. What has been your journey?

I graduated from Shanghai Medical University and my specialty was gastroenterology. During my training in China, we didn’t have any simulation training. Everything was observed and learned during clinical rotations. Simulation has become a normal part of training across the world rather recently, in the last 10 plus years.

During my residency time in China, I was also very involved in research focused on intestinal diseases. I received a scholarship for additional research training in Germany, and then came to McMaster to pursue a postdoctoral research position. I joined a research program that is now known as the Farncombe Family Digestive Health Research Institute. What I learned was that being in research wasn’t for me long-term because of the pressure of having to constantly apply for funding and grants. That’s when, by chance, this role became available, a friend referred me and I applied. I’ve been here for 12 years and have enjoyed it since day one.

What do you like most about your job?

I get to play a role in the training journey for healthcare professionals and see them go from first-year students and move with confidence through training to become practicing professionals. It’s very satisfying to see that growth. It’s so beneficial to expose future healthcare providers to a simulated environment before they see real patients. It prepares them and builds their confidence and necessary skills. It helps them work more confidently in a real environment.

Observation training is not very good for patient safety or comfort. If you make a mistake, you could potentially harm patients. So it’s much, much better to be able to learn beforehand. Pilots spend many hours in simulators before becoming licensed for flights—it’s the same concept.

We also play an important part in patient safety. We run training sessions for professionals – not just pre-licensure – but also the ones who are already practicing, for high-risk scenarios. For example, a severe postpartum bleeding situation can be very life-threatening if you don’t know how to manage that quickly and properly, but that’s not something that happens on a daily basis on the hospital floor. When it happens, it’s a highly stressful situation, and so in a simulated environment, we use a birthing manikin to prepare physicians and the teams through the exercise, so they know what to do if it happens in real life.

Actually, one of the physicians who attended a training session told us later that soon after the session she encountered the same thing in hospital, she felt prepared and knew exactly what to do. That’s very rewarding.

What is the biggest lesson you’ve learned during your career?

The biggest lesson I’ve learned is to embrace teamwork. We have a very strong simulation community here at McMaster, within our centre and beyond. Many faculty members and clinician-educators have a lot of experience in simulation, and as well as our own staff, working with them is a very good work experience. Teamwork is hugely beneficial in so many ways because you get to leverage everybody’s different specialties and perspectives, and the results always end up much better.