SoFraSimS 2024 Guidelines for Healthcare Simulation Scenario Design

From Casablanca to Montréal, from Tunis to Brussels, 25 simulation experts speaking the same professional language finally agreed on one thing: what a well-written simulation scenario must look like. The result, published open-access in Medical Education Online, is the SoFraSimS 2024 framework, a bilingual, three-template standard now available to simulation centers worldwide

In 2018, during an audit of various simulation centers, we observed significant disparities in the design of simulation scenarios among different French centers, ranging from half a page to 14 pages. Consequently, we felt it was important to develop a common template, and a first, simple version was created in 2018.

Then, in 2023, we decided together with Société Francophone de Simulation en Santé (SofraSimS) to update the 2018 framework and expand its reference framework. The idea was to create a working group that was as diverse as possible, with 25 French-speaking members from France, Belgium, Canada, Switzerland, Morocco, and Tunisia, representing a wide range of healthcare professions, including physicians, paramedics, and even simulation technicians. Most of these experts have all been working in simulation centers for at least 10 years and have been members of a simulation professional society for 15 years. They teach at the university level.

We wanted to offer the various French-speaking simulation centers a standardized and reproducible framework of simulation scenarios to facilitate exchanges among instructors and make it easier for the various stakeholders to write and read the scenarios.

We began with a preliminary literature review that helped identify the essential elements every scenario must include: title, authors, target population, technical and non-technical educational objectives (crisis management and human factors) relevant to that population, the material and human resources required to carry out the scenario, and a chronological sequence of the scenario with debriefing elements.

In a second phase, we formed focus groups to determine the optimal quality criteria for a simulation scenario using the nominal group technique, which we conducted (GDS and ER). We were fortunate to have a network of dynamic, responsive colleagues who were very interested in the project, which significantly accelerated its completion. The criteria ultimately selected were: the specification of educational needs and objectives; the preparation of the scenario, including human and material resources (type of simulator, necessary accessories); the step-by-step educational flow of the session (from the briefing to the “wrap-up”); debriefing aids; and finally, elements for improving the scenario following the initial training sessions.

We therefore propose three frameworks for healthcare simulation scenarios:

The framework for immersive simulation with a manikin consists of five parts:

For the immersive simulation scenario template involving a simulated participant, we have expanded the previous template to include a section on the simulated patient, specifically covering the briefing and the role the patient must play, their presentation, and the key phrases used during the simulation.

Finally, the framework for the procedural simulation model, which concerns the teaching of a technical procedure and is the first of its kind produced to date, allows the scenario to be written in a broader, more macro-level manner than the simple procedure to be acquired. This involves specifying, on the one hand, the pedagogical strategy used (non-exhaustive list: discovery method, demonstration, mastery learning, deliberate practice), to contextualize the activity using a clinical situation to facilitate the transfer of learning, and, secondly, to include an assessment scale for the procedure, either derived from the literature or developed by the instructor.

These scenarios, originally designed in French, have been translated into English to make them available to non-French-speaking countries, with a publication in the open-access journal Medical Education Online in June 2024

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Declaration on the use of AI: I declare that no artificial intelligence tools have been used in the writing, editing, or revision of this article.

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