Peds Sim Encounter 11/15

I believe the SIM encounter went well overall. I tried to be intentional about caring for the well-being of Libby while working to build trust and rapport with the parent involved. The parent seemed to be attentive and receptive to what I was explaining. Several times during the encounter, I stopped to check Ms. Nelson’s understanding to be sure that there were no lingering questions she had before moving on. She did express that all of the information was overwhelming, so I assured her that we were acting as a team to help make the process easier for all of them.

If I were given the opportunity for a do-over in the SIM lab, I would be sure to give the parent my contact information for follow up as needed. I would also be more aware of giving “information overload” to try and ease the parent’s feeling of being overwhelmed.

An occupational therapy student can communicate the attitude of caring in many ways that go beyond holding a conversation. One of these ways is by expressing care through nonverbal communication. Rather than having an across the room conversation, I positioned myself near the client when I was sitting on the stool so that we could review the information together on the SIM form. Another example of caring is to check to understand and actively listening. It can mean a lot to know that your healthcare providers are actually wanting to explain information to you, versus just spilling information to you and being too busy to actually answer questions that you have.

I really enjoyed this SIM experience because I believe that it is very practical going forward. It was nice to interact with a caregiver in a simulation because that is something that we haven’t had much experience with up until this point. I also really enjoyed an experience that put our lectures on empathy and active listening into perspective. I will incorporate this into my future clinical practice by being sure that I ask questions while taking into account how overwhelming this might actually be for a parent or caregiver.