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General
What is the SIM Scenario Exchange?
The Exchange is an open online collaborative library of simulation scenarios and other resources contributed by educators and simulationists. It was initially established through funding from the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (MTCU) and the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC), then updated in 2022 through funding from the Government of Canada.
What kinds of resources are available?
The Exchange contains three types of resources related to simulation:
- Scenario/simulation – documented, well-tested scenarios and supporting files that you can use to run simulations, and direct links to online virtual simulations
- Authoring/administration tool – document outlines, templates or guides used to assist with scenario development, sim lab management, and other tasks
- Assessment/evaluation tool – checklists, rating scales, rubrics and other tools that can be used to assess performance in simulations, and surveys or other tools to evaluate simulation scenarios themselves
Who has access to the Exchange and these resources?
The Exchange is hosted on Simulation Canada’s website. All website users, from around the world, have access to these resources. Users are permitted to download, adapt and implement these resources for their own use.
Can students access these scenarios?
Yes, since the Exchange is open to anyone with a Simulation Canada website account. Scenarios from the Exchange should not be used as-is for high stakes assessment.
Do I have to pay for resources or can I get paid for contributing?
No. This is an open, collaborative repository for the sharing of scenarios and other resources to support simulationists and improve healthcare education. We have made a deliberate decision not to restrict these resources to paying members. They are freely available to anyone.
Contributing Resources
Do I have to contribute in order to download resources?
No. The Exchange is completely open to website users, though we would encourage you to share one of your resources as a professional courtesy if you make use of the resources others have posted.
Why should I contribute a resource?
The Exchange was created to enable the sharing of these valuable resources, so others can implement and adapt resources developed by others, making simulation more accessible and efficient.
By contributing a resource to the Exchange you will:
- Make that resource available to simulationists around the world, assisting them in their simulation-based education
- Join a community who believes in the open sharing of resources for the benefit of healthcare education
- Receive scholarly recognition for the work that goes into creating and evaluating simulation scenarios and other resources
- On request, receive reports on downloads of your resource and comments from other simulationists
- Gain a publication with a URL for your academic CV
What do I have to do before uploading a resource?
Before you begin the upload process, please:
- Ensure the resource’s documentation is finalized
- Verify that you have the right to share the resource – either it is your property or you have permission from the owner(s) to share it (who owns an educational work depends on your institution’s employment policies)
- Make sure there is no material in your resource (e.g. copied text or images) that belongs to someone else, as you might be infringing their copyright by sharing the resource
Who owns the resources in the Exchange?
When you contribute a resource to the Exchange, there is no change in ownership; whoever owned it before continues to own it. You are simply giving Simulation Canada a license to distribute the resource to others via the repository. During the upload process, we ask you to agree to a Creative Commons license that allows others to download, use, adapt and redistribute the resource for non-commercial and educational purposes.
What if I want my resource taken down?
Please contact [email protected] and we will remove the resource from the Exchange within 10 working days from receipt of your written request for removal.
I am having trouble uploading. Is assistance available?
Yes! Please contact [email protected].
Quality Standards
How are contributions to the Exchange reviewed?
All submissions are screened by Simulation Canada staff to ensure they meet our quality expectations (see below) before they are published. Many contributors choose to have their resource peer-reviewed by expert colleagues before it is submitted to the Exchange. Will will recognize if a resource has been peer reviewed by a third party.
Do contributions have to adhere to any simulation standards?
We strongly recommend that simulations be written in accordance with the Healthcare Simulation Standards of Best PracticeTM, but we do not specifically review materials to ensure they comply with the Standards.
Does my submission have to be written using a certain template or standard structure?
No. Documents can have any structure.
Do all submissions to the Exchange get accepted?
No. Submissions are screened by Simulation Canada to ensure they meet a certain quality standard before they are accepted. Generally, resources must be well written, clear, and must have undergone implementation and evaluation to ensure they work as intended.
Scenarios/simulations must: have well-defined learning objectives; reflect up-to-date clinical evidence and best practices; have a scenario description, role descriptions, facilitation instructions, and briefing and debriefing notes consistent with the learning objectives; contain enough information that someone else can re-create the scenario (for scenario documents only); be freely accessible by educators and students (for online simulations); and have been used with learners and evaluated.
Authoring/administration tools must: be clearly written with instructions as needed, so others may use them; and have been used by the authors and others several times to provide evidence for its utility for its intended purpose.
Assessment/evaluation tools must: indicate their intended use/purpose; include instructions as necessary; and include evidence for their validity and reliability for measuring participant performance or scenario quality.
Our goal is to accept as many resources as possible while maintaining a dependable standard of quality. If your submission is not immediately accepted we will try to provide constructive feedback to you.
Does Simulation Canada guarantee the accuracy and effectiveness of the resources?
The resources in the repository are contributed by educators and simulationists in the Simulation Canada community. It is up to the author(s) to ensure clinical accuracy and educational effectiveness. The quality screening exists to ensure a quality standard is met, to improve quality, and to provide confidence in the resources, but Simulation Canada does not guarantee clinical accuracy and educational effectiveness.
Downloading & Using Resources
How many resources can I download?
You can download as many as you like; there is no limit.
What are my obligations when I download a resource?
When you download a resource, you agree to comply with terms in the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) License. Please review these terms before using the resource. When you use a resource:
- You must recognize its source and authors.
- If you make modifications to the resource you must reference the original resource and state that the original authors do not endorse your modifications.
- Finally, your modified version must be shared under the same license as the source resource – we encourage you to upload the adaptation back to the Exchange as a professional courtesy!
I work for an educational institution and students pay tuition. Can I still use the resource because of the NonCommercial restriction?
As described in the Creative Commons license, it is the nature of the use of a resource, not the nature of the user (or the user’s institution) that is restricted. It is generally understood that educational institutions can use NonCommercial resources as long as they are not directly charging money for their use. For example, you cannot charge students for accessing any of the simulations or resources you get from the Exchange, and you cannot sell these resources (or adaptations of them) to others.
How should I cite a resource that I use or adapt?
A recommended citation is provided on the details page for each resource.
Can I make modifications to a resource?
Yes. However, you must reference the original resource with credit to its authors, and state that the original authors do not endorse your modifications.
Can I upload a modified resource back into the repository?
Yes. Modified resources, if they are shared at all, must be shared in the same manner as the original. So we encourage you to share it back to the Exchange!
Have a question not answered here?
Please contact us at [email protected].