209 Advances in Simulation: Translational simulation to support a hospital move with Nathan Oliver

Moving hospitals? How can simulation help? 

In the latest of our collaborative episodes with Advances in Simulation, Vic interviews Nathan Oliver about his recent article:  

Oliver, N., Twentyman, K. & Howie, K. ‘Everybody’s voice is important’: using translational simulation as a component of change management. Adv Simul 10, 38 (2025). 

Nathan and team were asked to support the transition to a new hospital in Scotland. They took a very human centred approach, and we discussed Laura Rock’s adage to ‘not answer feelings with facts’ when considering staff anxieties about change. They drew upon Bartenuk’s work to orient their thinking about how change was experienced at the individual level, beyond simply measuring resistance or readiness. 

The simulation strategy, design, delivery and debriefing were guided by Nickson’s IPO model. 

• Nickson, C.P., Petrosoniak, A., Barwick, S. et al. Translational simulation: from description to action. Adv Simul 6, 6 (2021) 

Among many interesting elements, we reflected on the process of Systems focused debriefing, including some great work in this area by others. 

• Dubé, Mirette M. et al. PEARLS for Systems Integration: A Modified PEARLS Framework for Debriefing Systems-Focused Simulations. Simulation in Healthcare: The Journal of the Society for Simulation in Healthcare 14(5):p 333-342, October 2019. 

• Colman, N., Dalpiaz, A., Walter, S. et al. SAFEE: A Debriefing Tool to Identify Latent Conditions in Simulation-based Hospital Design Testing. Adv Simul 5, 14 (2020) 

• Bentley, S.K., McNamara, S., Meguerdichian, M. et al. Debrief it all: a tool for inclusion of Safety-II. Adv Simul 6, 9 (2021) 

We discussed data strategies for translational simulation, and the challenges of generating actionable insights from translational simulation. 

One other interesting aspect was one of the data collection methods, using post it notes to capture ‘in the moment’ feelings. 

• Kolbe M, Rudolph JW. What's the headline on your mind right now? How reflection guides simulation-based faculty development in a master class. BMJ Simul Technol Enhanc Learn. 2018 Jul 9;4(3):126-132. 

Nathan was also generous with his shout-outs to collaborators in the simulation and the scholarship of this project, including Simon Edgar, Dan Hufton, Vicky Tallentire and of course his co-authors Kathryn Twentyman and Katie Howie. Congratulations to Nathan and the team. 

Happy listening!