In this episode of SimCast, we welcome Mandy Wilford from the University of Staffordshire to explore building a culture of simulation across higher education. Drawing on her experience in nursing, NHS education and the commercial sector, Mandy shares how collaboration, leadership support and structured staff development have supported simulation across healthcare and policing. We discuss preparing learners for simulation, developing facilitators and adapting debriefing approaches to different professional contexts.

The conversation also explores authenticity, the language of fidelity and the importance of involving technologists in simulation design. Mandy shares examples of students designing, facilitating and debriefing their own scenarios, revealing learning needs and challenging assumptions about their priorities. Whether you teach, support simulation delivery or lead educational change, this episode offers practical ideas for developing your colleagues, strengthening student partnership and building support within your institution.

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In this episode of SimCast, Tony Jermy and Lawrence Hill welcome Helen Jarratt and Annie Constant from MPFT to explore organisational readiness for simulation-based learning. They trace the development of an early idea into a dedicated simulation suite, explaining how workforce engagement, leadership support and persistence shaped provision across a large, geographically dispersed community trust.

The discussion covers lessons from poorly attended sessions, the move towards bespoke support for clinical teams and the use of simulation within recruitment. Helen and Annie explain how SCORS provided an honest baseline, informed practical improvements and demonstrated progress in organisational readiness. They also explore faculty development, quality assurance, investment in staff and future plans for satellite facilities, streamed learning and simulation-informed career pathways.

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Recorded live at the Maudsley Learning Mental Health Simulation Conference, this special SimCast panel brings together speakers and faculty to reflect on some of the major issues shaping mental health simulation. Tony and Lawrence are joined by Liz, Nikki, James and Camilla to explore what prevents effective simulation from producing sustained change in healthcare systems, and how transformative simulation might move beyond education to influence systems, services and patient care.

The discussion examines the opportunities and risks associated with AI and technology-enhanced simulation, the importance of lived experience and inclusive design, and the role of multi-agency working in creating more representative learning. The panel also considers psychological safety in challenging mental health scenarios, how far simulation should stretch participants, and what they have taken away from two days of shared learning. The episode closes with a reminder that effective simulation does not depend on expensive facilities, and that creativity, collaboration and thoughtful design remain central to meaningful simulation practice.

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What does the future of healthcare simulation look like, and are we thinking big enough about what simulation can actually achieve?

In this episode of SimCast, Lawrence Hill and Tony Jermy are joined by Professor Sharon Weldon, President of the Association for Simulated Practice in Healthcare (ASPiH), to explore the rapidly evolving future of simulation. Sharon reflects on her remarkable journey into healthcare and simulation before challenging us to think beyond simulation as purely an educational technique. The conversation explores transformative simulation, intentional simulation design, the role of theory, systems improvement, artificial intelligence and the potential for simulation to help us understand and change complex healthcare systems.

We also discuss the professionalisation of simulation practice, ASPiH’s developing professional development framework, the importance of standards and governance, and the challenge of maintaining an inclusive simulation community while establishing a stronger professional voice nationally and internationally. Looking ahead, Sharon argues that simulation could become increasingly embedded within healthcare and education, not simply as something clinicians participate in, but as a tool they routinely use to explore, test, redesign and improve the systems in which they work.

Episode Links:

Transformative Sumlation

https://aspih.org.uk/resources/transformative-simulation/

ASPiH Best Practice and Professional Standards

https://aspih.org.uk/professional-practice/aspih-standards/

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In this episode of SimCast, Tony and Lawrence visit MKC Training at the Historic Dockyard Chatham to explore BlueRoom, an advanced mixed reality platform being used to create highly immersive simulation experiences. Joined by defence medical lead Keith Mills, they examine how mixed reality can place learners inside complex clinical and operational environments while still allowing them to interact with real equipment, patients and mannequins. They also explore how biometric monitoring, eye tracking and performance data could provide new ways of understanding decision-making, stress, situational awareness and human performance during simulation.

After experiencing the technology first-hand, the discussion moves beyond the initial appeal of immersive technology to consider its educational value. How realistic should simulation become? What happens when immersion is so powerful that learners need time before they are ready to debrief? And could mixed reality help bridge the gap between classroom learning and difficult-to-access environments such as helicopters, ambulances, field hospitals and other high-risk settings? The episode considers the opportunities, limitations, research potential and psychological safety implications of mixed reality, while returning to a fundamental principle: technology only adds value when it enhances good simulation design, facilitation and debriefing.

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In this episode of SimCast, Lawrence Hill and Tony Jermy are joined by Helen Needham, a learning disability nurse and academic at Birmingham City University with more than 40 years of experience across clinical, community and educational settings. Helen explores how simulation can help healthcare students develop the communication, relational and interpersonal skills needed when working with people with learning disabilities and cognitive impairment. The conversation examines psychological safety, the importance of establishing genuine human connection, the challenges of creating authentic simulated experiences, and why seemingly everyday conversations can represent significant “bad news” for the person receiving them.

Helen also discusses her professional doctorate exploring learning disability student nurses’ experiences of breaking bad news through simulation, including emerging findings around anxiety, confidence, emotional responses and the opportunity to rehearse conversations that students may rarely be able to practise in clinical placements. The discussion moves into some of the more difficult territory surrounding authenticity and ethics, including the involvement of people with learning disabilities in simulation, the potential for simulation itself to cause harm, and whether greater realism is always desirable. The episode concludes by considering the future of learning disability simulation, interprofessional applications and the potential for this work to support educators beyond Helen’s own institution.

If you’d like to find out more about Helen’s work in learning disability nursing and simulation, you can connect with her via Helen.Needham@BCU.ac.uk or via LinkedIn.

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In this episode, Tony and Lawrence speak with nurse educator Steph Reynolds about the limited visibility of community nursing within pre-registration nurse education. Steph challenges common assumptions that community nursing is less skilled or less clinically demanding than acute care, highlighting a plethora of skillsets required when supporting people in their own homes.

Steph also describes an ambitious community challenge simulation delivered at Birmingham’s Safeside village, where nursing students encountered a suite of simulations around falls, safeguarding concerns, health promotion, learning disability care and other complex community scenarios. The discussion explores how community-based simulation can expose learners to uncertainty, strengthen professional identity and place greater emphasis on interpersonal and non-technical skills that are often overshadowed by technical competence.

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In the final episode of our three-part Maudsley Learning series, Lawrence and Tony are joined by Dr Kirsten Howson and Anni Winnie to explore the central role of debriefing in mental health simulation. They examine how Maudsley Learning uses simulation scenarios as a springboard for deeper reflection, drawing on the Diamond Debrief Model, advocacy with inquiry and carefully structured discussions to explore clinical decision-making, team dynamics, transference, countertransference and unconscious bias.

The conversation also considers psychological safety, co-facilitation and the support required by simulation faculty when working with emotionally charged material. Kirsten and Anni explain how extended briefings, learner-centred facilitation and peer debriefing help participants engage with discomfort, challenge established assumptions and translate learning into practice. We tie up the episode looking at the future of Maudsley Learning, including the use of mental health simulation beyond healthcare and Maudsley's upcoming simulation conference.

Sign up to Maudsley Learning's Conference 17-18 Sept 26

https://maudsleylearning.com/courses/mental-health-simulation-conference/?courseId=27935cf0-c910-f111-8341-7c1e5204b760

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