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Introduction: Family practice anesthesia (FPA) providers are family physicians trained to deliver anesthesia care; they often practice in rural hospitals to facilitate surgical care. FPA providers in rural hospitals face challenges including professional isolation and limited opportunities for formal continuing education. To address needs identified by FPA providers, we piloted mobile medical simulation in rural Saskatchewan. Methods: Using a logic model framework, we evaluated feasibility of a one-day interdisciplinary mobile simulation workshop for healthcare providers in a rural Saskatchewan hospital. As part of this mixed methods pilot study, we interviewed stakeholders to explore their perceptions of human and financial resources associated with delivering medical simulations in rural locations. Multiple simulation scenarios were utilized to train participants in clinical and professional skills. Participants completed pre- and post-workshop surveys to evaluate their experience. Results: Financial and human resources included cost of renting, transportation of mannequins, and the time required to create the scenarios. Participants (n = 10) reported improved knowledge and found the experience valuable. The session prompted participants to reflect on their deficiencies in certain clinical procedures/skills and highlight learning strategies to address the gap. Discussion: Mobile medical simulation brought continuing medical education (CME) to health professionals in a rural location, but the program was expensive. Our logic model may inform educators and administrators considering mobile medical simulation for physicians in rural areas when balancing resource allocation and the organization’s commitment to CME for rural physicians.

Abstract This module is a collection of 40 video vignettes developed for use by faculty developers in a variety of settings. The vignettes depict effective and ineffective teaching methods. There is an accompanying resource manual with guiding questions and suggestions for how the vignettes may be used in training. While many of the video vignettes target those who train medical faculty, others may be used by those involved in training the learners at all educational levels. Each video has been kept deliberately short so that it can be used to quickly demonstrate a technique, or as a starter for discussions. Using these, participants may be asked to critically analyze good and not-so-good ways of teaching. This DVD is divided into four major categories: presentation skills, active learning strategies, small-group teaching, and clinical teaching. Each category has been further divided into specific teaching methods. Questions added under each of the categories, may be used to actively engage participants watching the videos. This resource has been used as part of the 2-day Teaching Improvement Project Systems (TIPS) workshops to train faculty and residents at the College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Canada. TIPS is mandatory for all new faculty. All residents take TIPS in their first and second year of training. During TIPS, these videos are used to trigger discussions, as well as identify effective and ineffective teaching methods.

Abstract The need for cesarean birth is sometimes so urgent that regional anesthesia techniques such as spinal or epidural cannot be done quickly enough to safely deliver the baby. Primary general anesthesia for surgery is a rare event on the labor and birth unit, but is the only way in which cesarean birth can occur without jeopardizing the health and safety of the baby and/or mother. While this represents a small number of patients overall (10–12 per year in the authors' unit), the outcome can be devastating for both mother and baby when this procedure is not well managed. The purpose of this resource is to improve patient safety and quality of care for patients who must have an emergency cesarean birth under primary general anesthesia. This quality improvement resource emphasizes teamwork and communication in the labor and birth unit during these critical and emergent times through a series of videos depicting a pregnant woman requiring emergency cesarean birth under general anesthesia. This web-based and interactive video format is used as a clinical example that emphasizes the importance of teamwork and communication in an interdisciplinary acute care setting. Further, it is the authors hope that engagement with these videos will provoke an emotional involvement that will prime the learner to more actively participate in other medical education exercises such as debriefings after medical simulations.

Abstract This module is a game-based desktop study and review tool that deals with the cysts and tumors of the liver. Medical Solitaire structures factual course content into an engaging format. The top half of the game screen can display up to eight categories (e.g., types of hepatic cysts and tumors in the illustrative example). The lower half of the game screen contains a stack of digital cards (text, laboratory data, radiographic images, gross pathology images, histopathologic images) that are to be matched with the categories above. The student evaluates the data on the top card of the stack and decides with which of the categories it matches. They then drag the card to that category (much like playing computer solitaire). A score is tabulated in the lower right corner. At the end of the game, the student receives a percent grade reflecting how well they have done in matching card data with each category. Low scores would tell the student that they need more review of the material. The categories and card stack reshuffle every time a new game is started to avoid having students remember material based solely on its location in the game. The first iteration of the tool is being published to highlight the role that game-playing can have in medical education and to obtain feedback from medical educators aiding the further development of the educational approach.

Abstract This web-based learning platform was developed for use by faculty and students who wish to learn about and engage in mentor/mentee relationships. Mentoring is a learning process where helpful, personal, and reciprocal relationships are built while focusing on achievement, and providing emotional support. Within mentoring relationships, mentees develop and learn through conversations with more experienced mentors who share knowledge and skills that can be incorporated into their thinking and practice. This platform has been evaluated by four representatives from the target audience, and all agreed or strongly agreed that it was very useful, specifically in their practice. The content of this platform is not only applicable to medical and dental educators, but for anyone wanting to learn about mentoring or start a program in mentoring. Future plans include making the platform more interactive by introducing a Wiki-style interface, so that the target audience can share their experiences and add to the resource.

Abstract With the reduction in hands-on lab time in medical courses, recordings of animal experiments are the next best way of actually visualizing physiological changes. This learning object has been developed for use in physiology courses and comprises a video with accompanying instructor manual. It can be used in a large- or small-group setting in sessions that address any of the following topics: regulation of the cardiovascular system, effect of changes in posture, prolonged bed rest and its physiological effects, antihypertensives, mode of action and side effects, effect of gravity on the body—zero gravity and g forces, handling of animals, anatomy of blood vessels, systemic circulation, and physiological effects of acceleration and deceleration. This learning object can be used to predict, see, and discuss changes in the cardiovascular system produced by posture. At our institution, it has been effectively used in a large-group setting. This learning object can be stopped at will by the instructor, so that varying aspects can be focused on, depending upon the audience. The resource actively engages students.