From simulation trainings and health awareness events to international conferences and national achievements, 2024 proved an eventful, energizing year for the staff, faculty, and students of S.H.A.R.E. Simulation Hospital Advancing Research & Education ® (S.H.A.R.E.). Let’s take a look at some highlights from the past 12 months.
S.H.A.R.E. kicked off 2024 with a Stop the Bleed course on January 23. The objective of the course was to train staff from the University of Miami School of Nursing and Health Studies (SONHS) in basic first aid skills they could perform in case of emergency. Vincent Torres, CHEP, Emergency Management Director, demonstrated these skills on mannequins, told personal stories from his work as a first responder, and presented slides and videos to give different perspectives on each technique used to address severe blood loss caused by sharp objects, weapons, or other bodily trauma.
During the hour-and-a-half session, Torres had participants practice applying tourniquets on themselves, explaining what they could use if a true tourniquet was unavailable. Using a mannequin, attendees also learned to pack wounds with military-grade gauze made to induce clotting. Staff said Torres’s emphasis on hands-on activities made the instruction more engaging and educational. Stop the Bleed is one of a handful of educational courses at S.H.A.R.E. provided to staff and students.
Also in January, S.H.A.R.E. staff Dr. Ruth Everett-Thomas, Ph.D., RN, CHSE; Greta Mitzova-Vladinov, D.N.P., CRNA, CHSE, APRN, director of the nurse anesthesia program at SONHS; and Jeffrey Groom, Ph.D., CRNA, a S.H.A.R.E. simulation educator and Society for Simulation in Healthcare Academy Fellow took part in the 2024 International Meeting on Simulation and Healthcare (IMSH). Dr. Everett Thomas, associate director of clinical, led a panel on simulation-based resources and recommendations to improve curricula to align with the Association of Colleges in Nursing (AACN) Essentials.
In February, SONHS and S.H.A.R.E. personnel celebrated American Heart Month, hosting “We Wear Red Because We Care” events to raise awareness for cardiovascular health. Students and staff came decked out in their best red outfits on February 2 for National Wear Red Day. Later in the month, simulation educators set up a station in the lobby of the M. Christine Schwartz Center for Nursing and Health Studies, teaching students and staff proper techniques for chest compressions and Automated External Defibrillator (AED) first aid and demonstrating on mannequins how oxygen circulates through the body before and after cardiac first aid is administered.
During Patient Safety Awareness Week in March, the S.H.A.R.E. team hosted a friendly Jeopardy-style game in the Schwartz Center lobby, quizzing passers-by on the basics of patient safety. Students also were given the chance to practice monitoring breathing and vital signs on a mid-fidelity simulation mannequin and take part in an “escape room” where they had to identify the 15 safety hazards present to exit successfully.
In May, a comprehensive team of students, faculty, and staff from S.H.A.R.E. and SONHS collaborated with the University of Miami Office of Emergency Management and several local first responder agencies on Operation Phoenix, a mock mass casualty exercise designed to hone the skills of first responders in preparation for an active shooter emergency. This was one of the most extensive and interdisciplinary health care simulations carried out by the school.
After a simulated attack took place at the University of Miami’s Stanford Residential College, the “assailant” was neutralized and the wounded (including nursing students volunteering as victims of the “shooter”) were triaged outside the Knight Center for Music Innovation. The most seriously injured were transported by ambulance to S.H.A.R.E., which had been transformed into a level 1 trauma center for the exercise. There, dozens of other nursing students who had been assigned to various practitioner roles leapt into action.
Twenty patients had to be assessed, triaged, and transported to the appropriate department for treatment. After the simulation was complete, SONHS clinical instructors congratulated students on their thorough commitment to the intense and immersive experience and for remaining calm during a realistically chaotic catastrophe. “This is unique to have this exercise in a school,” said Marco Gonzalez of the Gordon Center for Simulation and Innovation in Medical Education. “This type of training is more for an advanced learner out in the field, so this was a great experience.”
Also in May, S.H.A.R.E. hosted its second annual ‘Day in the Life of a Nursing Student’, welcoming Southwest Miami and Westland Hialeah senior high school students to learn about nursing simulation technology first-hand. Split into small groups, the students visited different activity stations coordinated by S.H.A.R.E. educators. They were guided through some of the basics first-year nursing students learn at SONHS, such as identifying medical errors in an ICU setting, taking vital signs, administering EpiPens, administering CPR/AED, and more.
A more advanced simulation workshop took place for a week in June at S.H.A.R.E., attended by nursing faculty of over a dozen academic institutions from Peru. They learned a great deal about running nursing simulations with plans to bring back the knowledge to their home institutions. Procedures for creating, piloting, and executing simulations were reviewed, as well as the best ways to debrief students. The nurse leaders had the chance to run simulations focused on common health emergencies like hypertensive crisis, hyperglycemia, asthma exacerbation, and psychotic crises.
Sonia Tejada Muñoz, of the nursing school at Universidad Nacional Toribio Rodriguez de Mendoza de Amazonas, said the simulation workshop allowed her to practice many different roles and exercises, increasing her confidence in conducting simulation-based activities with her own students and faculty.
The Fall semester started in August with flurry of activity, including a simulation-based emergency response course titled “The Next 5 Minutes – After Calling 9-1-1™,” led by S.H.A.R.E. simulation educator Jeffrey Groom. Nine Miami Dade County Public School employees who provide health services throughout the district attended the course to learn what to do, and not do, in the critical moments after an emergency, while first responders are en route. This was Groom’s fifth year leading the intense four-hour session at S.H.A.R.E. Instruction includes medical response planning, basic lifesaving and automated external defibrillator (AED) techniques, CPR, bag-mask ventilation, tourniquet application, and choking response skills. School nurses, while they primarily take care of students, are also often the only health care professional onsite at schools and are frequently the first line of defense in case of emergency. In alignment with its Education for Life pillar of excellence, S.H.A.R.E. is committed to supporting these personnel, whose ongoing preparation is essential to the health and safety of students everywhere.
The following month, from September 16 to 20, S.H.A.R.E. joined in the worldwide celebration of Healthcare Simulation Week. Dr. Mitzova-Vladinov created a virtual reality “escape room” scenario set in a surgical suite. In the scenario, participants used virtual reality goggles to exit the room and enter a virtual vacation paradise by successfully navigate their way through an anesthesiologist’s pre-operative duties. This simulation was created to make first-year anesthesia students feel more comfortable in the operating room environment.
Another Healthcare Simulation Week activity students partook in was a moulage workshop. Moulage is a makeup technique used to replicate any types of skin contusions: bruises, gunshot and stab wounds, broken bones, frostbite wounds, and the list goes on. Simulation is used in healthcare education to make the learning environment mirror the hospital environment as closely as possible. S.H.A.R.E. faculty and staff do everything in their power to prepare their students for the transition of university to the workplace as best as possible.
S.H.A.R.E. staff also offered a suturing course in September. This was one of many events geared toward building on the school’s strategic plan “Education for Life” pillar. Participants receive critical instruction, credit, and certifications, with the option of earning continuing nursing credits (CNE) as well. CNEs are important for ensuring that nurses who work in urgent care centers, intensive care units, and emergency departments in particular have the best possible preparation for their lifesaving work. The four-hour weekend training was led by simulation educators Michelle Arrojo and Amauri Quintana, who reviewed with students the kinds of injuries that might require suturing, how to identify the extent of the wound and what could keep it from healing, methods of suturing, and other intricacies of this potentially complex procedure. Participants were given the opportunity to take their suturing kits from class home with them to practice. Another suturing course was again in December.
Courses for suturing, phlebotomy, ultrasound techniques, and other skills are offered at S.H.A.R.E. year-round. For more information, visit here, email share@miami.edu, or call Zuzer Calero, executive director of S.H.A.R.E. business operations, at 305-284-2709. Courses are open to students, alumni, and members of the community with proper preparation.
The success of Operation Phoenix in May has created a flourishing collaboration with the Coral Gables Fire Department. In November, as part of a paramedic training partnership with S.H.A.R.E., paramedics from the department used S.H.A.R.E. ’s home health apartment to learn how to assess patients during a 911 emergency call to an elderly patient. Paramedics were tested on specific processes necessary for home calls. In turn, activities like these help nursing students learn to work with emergency medical service (EMS) personnel, ensuring a smoother home-to-hospital transition for patients.
Last year at S.H.A.R.E. was filled with laughter and fun, trial and error, challenges and accomplishments. “After all the knowledge gained and partnerships built in 2024, expectations for 2025 are high,” said Calero. “With plans to never stop improving, learning, and caring, our S.H.A.R.E. faculty and staff welcome the coming year with open arms.”
