Prof. Harley will provide an overview of existing strengths and areas for further improvement in healthcare simulation education research. They will describe ongoing research they and their research lab and collaborators are conducting at McGill to help illustrate both challenges and opportunities to tackle crises in healthcare and healthcare education. Research examples will include Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada-funded studies with virtual simulation technologies and anti-harassment simulation training. The talk will conclude with future directions for simulation education research, including common research priorities amongst Canadian simulation centres from a national survey Prof. Harley and their team recently published.

Attendees will be able to:

1. Understand how simulation can be used to help combat contemporary crises as well as criteria for it to fulfill this potential 
2. Identify strengths and weakness of healthcare simulation education research
3. Describe opportunities and approaches to advance healthcare simulation education research

Professor Jason M. Harley, PhD, is a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at McGill University and a Scientist at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC). They are also the Director of Research at the Steinberg Centre for Simulation and Interactive Learning, Director of the Simulation, Affect, Innovation, Learning, and Surgery (SAILS) Lab, and an Associate Member of the Institute for Health Sciences Education (IHSE).

Prof. Harley completed their FRQSC and SSHRC CGS-funded Ph.D. in Educational Psychology at McGill University in 2014. They held an FRQSC-funded postdoctoral position in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Montréal from 2014-2015 before joining the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Alberta as an Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology and Technology (tenure-track) from 2016-2019.

In 2018, they won the Outstanding Early Career Researcher Award sponsored by the Technology, Instruction, Cognition, and Learning (TICL) SIG of the American Educational Research Association (AERA). 

The overarching goal of Prof. Harley’s research program is to support the current and future well-being and clinical performance of healthcare trainees through innovative educational interventions, leveraging interactive simulations and emerging technologies. Their research has attracted over 1 million dollars of funding (as PI) from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, The Killam Foundation, Mitacs, the McGill Interdisciplinary Initiative in Infection and Immunity, and others Their research has led to dozens of broadcast and print interviews in venues such as The Guardian, CBC News, The Globe and Mail, Global News, CTV News and the Montreal Gazette.

Simulationists are innovative educators, charged with preparing today’s students with the skills they will need for tomorrow’s healthcare milieu. Change seems to be accelerating in recent years, particularly driven by the stress the pandemic placed on our healthcare system and providers.

In this panel, we explore three unique drivers of change: First, the patient perspective, with increasing expectations of safe, effective, inclusive, and trauma-informed care. Second,  emerging technologies that are poised to disrupt many long-established work processes. And, third, the need for healthcare system reform to ensure its accessibility and sustainability.

SIM Expo registrants will be invited to submit questions for this panel ahead of time, to help guide the discussion.

Ivy Lynn Bourgeault, PhD, FCAHS (she/her/elle)

Dr. Bourgeault is a Professor in the School of Sociological and Anthropological Studies at the University of Ottawa and the University Research Chair in Gender, Diversity and the Professions. She leads the Canadian Health Workforce Network, the Empowering Women Leaders in Health initiative and co-leads the Team Primary Care: Training for Transformation project. Dr. Bourgeault has garnered an international reputation for her research on the health workforce, particularly from a gender lens.

Ahmed Muslimani (they/them)

Lyn K. Sonnenberg, HonBSc, MSc, MD, MEd, EMBA, FRCPC (she/her/elle)

Jerry Maniate, MD, MEd, FRCPC, FACP, CCPE, CPC(HC), EMBA(C) (he/his/him)

Dr. Jerry Maniate and his family, including 2 young girls, have resided in Ottawa, which is the unceded and traditional lands of the Algonquin people. He is a clinician-educator at The Ottawa Hospital, an Associate Professor at the University of Ottawa, a researcher at the Bruyère Research Institute, and has served as a senior leader in several health and educational organizations and committees. In September 2021, Dr. Maniate founded the Equity in Health Systems Lab (www.eqhslab.com), an international transdisciplinary team of researchers, health care professionals, educators, policymakers, learners, and patients who are seeking to make an impact on our community and health system with the work they are engaged with through a unique approach. His academic work and that of the EqHS Lab has been focused on understanding and addressing inequities, racism, and injustice in our health systems through collaborative partnerships using a scholarly lens.