It might be one of the busiest times of year, but that didn’t stop Oldham’s Emergency Department team from running one of their annual ‘Megasim’ emergency simulation exercises to test how well the department works with other hospital teams when faced with a critical incident.
Megasim is the department’s unannounced annual multi-disciplinary emergency simulation exercise in the ED involving A&E, anaesthetics, paediatric, ICU and neonatal crash bleep teams. The aim behind the exercise is to test and improve inter-speciality processes in extreme circumstances for a critically unwell adult, paediatric and neonatal patients. Not only does the exercise provide a great opportunity for everyone to get together and test the departments’ emergency processes; it allows teams to familiarise themselves with colleagues and the department. This year’s event was also live-streamed to a closed group of trainees to enable them to watch and learn from the event at a safe distance.
Use of simulation technology has clear benefits for the ED and the team are leading the way in use of such technology. The ED team recently scooped an international technology award – the Learning Technologies award for Best Use of Simulation for Learning.
A&E Consultant, Dr Umal Ghori, said: “As always, this year’s Megasim exercise was a huge success. The exercise helps our ED staff to hone their skills and ensure they are well-equipped to deal with scenarios they are likely to encounter in an ED environment. Megasim genuinely improves how well we all work together and ultimately improves the quality of care that we provide to patients. We couldn’t run these exercises without the support of Toby Garrity and the L&OD team, who are instrumental in organising these events. Thanks to Toby and all the specialities who got involved.”