Healthcare simulation can be used to replicate or amplify clinical experiences without patient harm, to cost-effectively address barriers to providing high-quality medical care, especially in low-resource settings. However, its effective use in these settings is restricted by the limited availability of facilitators with the required knowledge, skills, and capabilities, including activity design, delivery, and debriefing.
The aim of this project was therefore to create a framework for the assessment of healthcare simulation facilitators specifically informed by practice in low-resource settings, to support further development of simulation capabilities in these contexts.
Dr Adam Mossenson, St John of God Midland Public and Private Hospitals; Curtin University, Western Australia; Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Dr Patricia Livingston, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Dr Janie Brown, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia
The project was awarded $A83,139 funding through the ANZCA research grants program for 2023.
The team first conducted a literature review, and a systematic scoping review (published Simulation in Healthcare; 2023), which confirmed that there was no existing simulation assessment framework with the contextual suitability or evidence required to support usage in low-resource settings.
The existing Vital Anaesthesia Simulation Training (VAST) Community of Practice was used as an organisation through which developing simulation facilitation skills could be explored. Processes and structures required for facilitator skill development were mapped, and existing approaches reviewed. The researchers then developed and tested a new approach for the assessment of simulation educators, designed in collaboration with - and drawing on the knowledge of - healthcare providers deeply engaged in simulation education in low resource settings.
This approach, called the VAST Facilitation Observation and Rating Method (VAST FORM), is now supported by sufficient evidence to recommend its use in supporting simulation facilitator training in low-resource settings.
The direct and scalable benefit of this research is enhanced capacity for more appropriate assessment, education and skills training of healthcare providers delivering simulation activities in low-resource settings, to support the development of contextually appropriate individual and team competencies across a range of perioperative and country settings. Broadened and effective use of simulation is expected to promote the development of learners’ knowledge, skills, and behaviours, and ultimately lead to enhanced patient care and outcomes.
Mossenson AI, Upadhye V, Livingston P. Developing simulation educator skills globally through the Vital Anaesthesia Simulation Training community of practice. British Journal of Anaesthesia. 2023;131 (6): e190-192. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bja.2023.09.015
Mossenson AI, Khalid K, Livingston P. “Voices from the ground”: Reverberations from a community of practice. Anaesthesia. 2025; 80 (7): 867-868. https://doi.org/10.1111/anae.16569
Mossenson AI, Livingston P, Tuyishime E, Brown J. Assessing healthcare simulation facilitation: A scoping review of available tools, validity evidence, and context suitability for faculty development in low-resource settings. Simulation in Healthcare. 2023; 19(6): e135-e146. https://doi.org/10.1097/SIH.0000000000000796
Mossenson AI, Livingston P, Brown JA, Khalid K, Rubio Martinez R. A competency framework for simulation facilitation in lowresource settings: A modified Delphi study. Anaesthesia. 2024. 79:1300-1308. https://doi.org/10.1111/anae.16446
Mossenson AI, Brown JA, Tuyishime E., Rubio Martinez R, Khalid K, Livingston P. Assessing healthcare simulation facilitation using a competency-based tool derived from practice in lowresource settings. Anaesthesia. 2025. https://doi.org/10.1111/anae.16621
Mossenson AI, Brown JA, Rubio-Martinez R, Khalid K, Livingston P. Assessment of healthcare simulation facilitation informed by practice in low-resource settings. International Journal of Healthcare Simulation. 2024. https://doi.org/10.54531/aulu3488
Mossenson AI, Brown JA, Moneypenny M, Murithi G, Elaibaid M, Upadhye V, Rubio Martinez R, Livingston P. The Vital Anaesthesia Simulation Training Facilitation Observation and Rating Method (Under review)
Presentations
2023 (June) - 28th Annual Meeting of SESAM (Society for Simulation in Europe) in Lisbon – Research project overview.
2024 (March) - World Congress of Anaesthesia, Singapore – Presentation of the modified Delphi study, developing of a competency-based framework for simulation facilitation in low-resource settings.
2024 (July) - ACEM Regional, Rural, and Remote Emergency Medicine Conference, Darwin – Advancing simulation in low resource settings through VAST’s Community of Practice.
2024 (Nov) - WA Simulation in Healthcare Alliance Annual Education Event - The Vital Anaesthesia Simulation Training Facilitation Observation and Rating Method (VAST FORM); A simulation faculty development curriculum innovation project.
Resources developed through this grant
- VAST FORM – Tools
- VAST FORM – User Guide
- Online training materials to support the use of the VAST FORM
- VAST FORM – Tools (Spanish)
- VAST FORM – User Guide (Spanish)
- VAST FORM – Tools (French)
- VAST FORM – User Guide (French)
Last modified: