We were excited to celebrate numerous simulationists at this year’s Expo, with a variety of awards: Sim Citizenship, SIM Champion, SIM Innovators, best posters/presentations, and this year’s Keystones of Simulation Certificate recipients.

One aspect of the SIM Expo we truly love is the celebration of the simulationists and organizations leading innovation, implementation, research, and community-building. At the 2017 SIM Expo, we were honoured to announce the recipients of a number of awards.

SIM Citizenship Award

Sponsored by HIROC

The SIM Citizenship Award recognizes simulationists across Canada who champion simulation and collaboration to make an outstanding impact on building the simulation community, education, creative professional activities, advocacy, research and other endeavours. This year we received 9 outstanding nominations. All submissions were reviewed by a panel of peers from across Canada.

Congratulations to our 2017 SIM Citizenship Award recipient:

Colette Foisy-Doll

Colette Foisy-Doll, RN, MSN, CHSE, has devoted over thirty years to nursing education and the past twenty years to simulation. She currently holds positions as a Professional Resource Faculty with the Faculty of Nursing and Director of the Clinical Simulation Centre at MacEwan University in Edmonton.

Colette was one of the first in Canada to integrate simulation in undergraduate nursing education in the late 90’s. Over the years she has served as a consultant in the development of simulation programs locally, nationally, and internationally. Colette was a presence and is an on-going mentor to many globally, having worked to establish simulation centres and programs in Ukraine, Qatar, the UAE, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia and across North America. 

Her passions include empowering educators to facilitate simulation through faculty development, designing simulation using best practices for optimal student-centered learning, and interprofessional education (IPE) for undergraduate healthcare programs. She co-edited and authored a textbook with Dr. Kim Leighton titled Simulation Champions: Courage, Caring and Connection, which was released this past summer.

Colette is one of the true pioneers of simulation in Canada.  Her vibrant and generous personality combined with her passion for education has made her an internationally regarded voice in simulation.

Congratulations to the 2017 SIM Champion:

Elaine Ng

This year, the review committee wanted to also recognize and honour Elaine for her longstanding dedication to advancing simulation in Canada and abroad. Elaine is a pediatric anesthesiologist and introduced simulation to the Department of Anesthesia and Pain Medicine at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, in 2006. Since then, she has overseen an exponential expansion of simulation activity to include multiple specialties and programs, a diverse range of interprofessional learners, extensive train-the-trainer programs and a reach and impact locally, provincially, nationally and internationally. Elaine has brought simulation to a broad range of contexts, both high- and low-resource, and has influenced the learning and professional trajectories of thousands of learners.

In particular, the committee wanted to celebrate Elaine’s volunteer work to bring simulation and simulationist development prorgams to developing countries. She has worked voluntarily for a month in Rwanda, and has been part of teams that trained simulationists in Qatar and used simulation to commission the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital in South Africa.

SIM Innovator Awards

Sponsored by Gaumard Scientific

Reflecting the evolution of SIM-one and CNSH into a new Canada-wide network, the SIM Innovator Awards are regional-level awards that recognize an organization in each region of Canada who has demonstrated exceptional commitment to innovate, advocate and advance simulation for education, patient safety or quality improvement. This year we received 7 outstanding nominations. All submissions were reviewed by panels of peers from 4 regions across Canada.

Congratulations to our 2017 SIM Innovator Award recipients:

Alberta Health Services’ eSim Program, for their province-wide eSIM program, improving care quality and patient safety among 650 health centres.

Canadore College, for the breadth and depth of their simulation program, including a focus on Indigenous health.

John Abbott College, for their longstanding dedication to integrating simulation across their nursing curricula.

Dalhousie University’s Stroke Interprofessional Team, which annually brings together learners from 7 professions to experience the full continuum of stroke care.

This year, to recognize outstanding scholarship and innovation presented at the SIM Expo, we introduced poster/presentation awards. All abstracts were reviewed and scored by our abstract review committee, and the highest-scoring posters and presentations were then scored during the Expo by a panel of judges to select the recipients. Congratulations to:

Best Presentation/Poster: Research Stream

When you Change the Viewpoint, the Perspective Changes
Karyn Taplay, Sheila O’Keefe-McCarthy, Kayleigh Tyrer, Tanner Mills, Brock University

Best Presentation/Poster: Innovation & Implementation Stream

Designing and Implementing a Serious Virtual Simulation Game as a Presimulation Preparation Activity for a Live Respiratory Distress Simulation for Nursing Students
Marian Luctkar-Flude, Deborah Tregunno, Rylan Egan, Queen’s University; Jane Tyerman, Lily Chumbley, Laura Collins, Trent University; Tammie McParland, Laurie Peachey, Nipissing University; Michelle Lalonde, University of Ottawa; Margaret Verkuyl, Centennial College; Paula Mastrilli, George Brown College

Best Presentation/Poster: Student

Return on Investment of Interprofessional Simulation Training in Detection and Management of Sepsis on Patient Outcomes
Michelle Kwong, McMaster University; Suzanne Schell, Return on Investment Institute Canada

We are pleased to announce simulationists who completed their Keystones of Simulation Certificate in the past year. Congratulations!

Mohammed Almansour, Majmaah University
Troy Berteit, Omni Life Support Training and Consulting Inc.
Shelley Clarke, Algonquin College
Michelle Groundwater, St. Clair College
Treva Job, Georgian College
Steven Lester, Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College
Karen MacDonald, Georgian College
Marilyn Niffin, Georgian College
Cindy Pallister, St. Clair College
Karen Paquette, Cambrian College
Fahad Samarkandy, McMaster University
Kim Smallhorn, St. Clair College
Avinash Thadani, Georgian College
Dana Watson, Georgian College

Participants in the 2017 SIM Expo enthusiastically pursued the culprit in the Expo’s integrated mystery game: Who Busted SimMan? Delegates had to search high and low around the Expo for clues then channel their inner Sherlock Holmes to deduce which of 6 students busted SimMan during one of their simulations.

We were honoured to welcome this year’s keynote speakers, world leaders in serious gaming and healthcare simulation!

Bill Kapralos, PhD  Gamification Guru
Associate Professor, University of Ontario Institute of Technology

Immersive technologies, gamification and serious games for healthcare education

Daniel Raemer, PhD  Patriarch of Simulation
Associate Professor of Anaesthesia, Harvard Medical School
Bioengineer, Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care, and Pain Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital
Chief Curiosity Officer, Center for Medical Simulation

Simulation Trauma!  Avoiding harm to patients, participants, and staff.

We were excited to be joined by these leading companies as Expo 2017 sponsors and exhibitors!

Platinum Sponsor • Laerdal

Gold Sponsors • CAE • Gaumard Scientific

Exhibitors • Avkin • Lecat’s Ventriloscope • Limbs & Things • Nordest • Pocket Nurse • Pristine Medical • SimuLab • Spectrum Nasco • SSH • Studica • SynDaver • Turning Technologies • Wolters Kluwer • Zoll