Simulation Education for Ebola Healthcare Team Competency

Project Summary This product will keep healthcare workers prepared and safe in the next lethal viral pandemic through innovative simulation education. Ebola and other deadly viral diseases represent a major threat to the nation and world. At its peak in December 2015 Ebola had infected 28,640 (including 4 in the U.S.) and killed 11,315 people (including 1 in the U.S.). By the end of 2014 tragically, 814 healthcare workers had died. Any hospital could have a suspected Ebola patient even if for a brief time, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), American Hospital Association and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have recognized the need for healthcare workers to be appropriately trained. This SBIR grant addresses this need with the educational product named Medical Unit Specialized Simulation Training (MUSST.) MUSST contains: 1) internet based self-study of the scientific background for high stakes infectious disease with special emphasis on the diagnosis, infectivity, transmission of the Ebola virus; 2) a novel rapidly learned train the trainer internet self-administered module for hospital instructors to learn how to teach and grade the course; 3) CDC, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and World Health Organization (WHO) guideline based safe practice protocols for 13 common simulated tasks for nurses, physicians and other healthcare workers; and 4) an objectively quantitative automated scoring and data acquisition system that immediately grades and ranks performance of learners with unique analytical tools so that hospital leaders can insure their staff is competent. The product is unique in the internet delivery, proprietary digital grading tool, original database analytics, mastery training and incorporation of High Reliability Team process. Long-term MUSST will standardize education, monitor preparedness and insure safe practices across the country keeping our healthcare workers safe and competent as they work to contain deadly infectious diseases. Multiple forces in the market assure the success of this unrivaled educational product. Many hospitals cannot develop their own course and must purchase a valid product. Hospital regulatory agencies like OSHA, The Joint Commission and CMS have made the protection of workers, containment of infectious disease a requirement. Hospitals also have liability concerns related to hospital acquired infections. The fact that there has not been an Ebola case in the U.S. in the past several years means that there is an unavoidable but potentially disastrous relaxed and unprepared workforce as the World Health Agency pointed out with the re-emergence of Ebola in 2015. SimTunes expects early market acceptance of the product using firmly established corporate alliances for marketing that have brought other innovative product success worldwide. Key Words: Healthcare Worker Preparedness, Ebola, Infection Control, Simulation team training.Project Narrative This product will keep healthcare workers prepared for and safe in the next lethal pandemic. This SBIR grant addresses this need with the educational product named Medical Unit Specialized Simulation Training (MUSST). The research will test its superiority over conventional educational methods and its ability to be used in community hospitals and with a new disease.