It has been an honor to serve as the inaugural simulation fellow for UAB, this year I have gained incredible insights into education, training, and how simulation can improve healthcare. I have grown as a simulationist and an educator through formal education, mentorship, and dedicated practice. I was given the opportunity to attend the comprehensive instructor course at Center for Medical Simulation in Boston, after taking the OIPS faculty development courses of Sim 1, Sim 2, Difficult debriefing, and Rapid Cycle Deliberate Practice, I was prepared to take further insights and push my simulation design and debriefing skills further. During my tenure as the simulation fellow I have been pursuing a master's degree in healthcare simulation, which I will complete this summer. This has provided a strong background in education and simulation theory, curricular design, as well as leadership skills including healthcare finance and strategic management.

Working in OIPS for this past year, I have participated in countless simulations across not only the health system but the university and medical school as well. I have seen the impact of the Poverty simulation on students to expand their understanding and empathy for those individuals and future patients with financial limitations. I have witnessed medical and nursing students experience their first healthcare team and learn the importance of communication and collaborative practice. I have trained new residents to place central lines on a mannequin, so they may safely treat our patients. As an emergency medicine physician, I have a special interest in emergency services and worked to design a series of simulations to prepare the new freestanding emergency department in Gardendale. I gained an appreciation for how simulation in clinical spaces can improve patient safety and better prepare a team for their first day in a new department. Through these experiences I have learned the importance of teamwork within the simulation group for effective implementation, honed my debriefing skills, and improved my scenario design.

This year I have also developed as an academician through scholarly work. During the experience with the Gardendale simulations, I developed a research interest in Rapid cycle deliberate practice (RCDP) simulation. The guidance and mentorship I received from both the OIPS team and the simulation community allowed me to expand my skills as an investigator by approaching this question with qualitative research methods and successfully writing my first IRB. I am now in the process of finishing a manuscript investigating learner perspectives of RCDP in an interprofessional setting. I plan to present this work in San Diego at IMSH in 2020.
During this fellowship, I have grown as an educator in both our institution and in the simulation community through regional and national talks, as well as traditional didactics. Along with my experience in education through simulation debriefing, I designed a didactic curriculum on interprofessional simulation theory and design for a co-enrolled course in the school of medicine which was offered this spring. I had the opportunity to give regional and national talks in the simulation community. I was invited with the OIPS team to give a debriefing skills workshop at a regional conference in Kansas City and assisted in a workshop on procedural simulation design at IMSH in San Antonio.

All of these experiences have prepared me to be a better academic clinician in education and scholarly work. I can attest that simulation is a powerful tool in healthcare for our training and ultimately for our patients. Due to the skills and knowledge I gained through this fellowship I will be taking a position at Stanford University in California working as a simulation faculty in the emergency department. While it is with sadness that I say goodbye to UAB in the fall, I am excited to bring my experience to Stanford and know that I will represent UAB and OIPS with pride and excellence.