The Sim Cafe~

The Sim Cafe~ Interview with Jarrod Young

September 09, 2022 Season 2 Episode 35
The Sim Cafe~
The Sim Cafe~ Interview with Jarrod Young
Show Notes Transcript

Jarrod Young, MBA, BSE, CHSOS-A is the Simulation Operations Lead at The University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) Center for Healthcare Improvement and Patient Simulation (CHIPS). Mr. Young received his Bachelor’s in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) in 2012 and his Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Tennessee at Martin in 2020. He also holds a Graduate Certificate in Healthcare Quality and Safety from UAB, as well as a certification from the Society for Simulation in Healthcare (SSH) as a Certified Healthcare Simulation Operations Specialist- Advanced (CHSOS-A).

Since his arrival in 2016, Mr. Young oversees the operations of all healthcare simulation activities within the 45,000 square foot facility at CHIPS. With a strong focus on process management, operational efficiency, and quality improvement methodologies, Mr. Young organizes the day-to-day operations of CHIPS and provides guidance to the Simulation Specialists and Simulation Technologist that make up the operations team. Starting in January 2021, Jarrod served as the Interim Co-Director of CHIPS for eighteen months. During that time, he helps steady the program through an array of major changes, all while leading CHIPS through SSH Accreditation in Teaching and Education.

Prior to his time at CHIPS, Mr. Young served as a Clinical Simulation Specialist at UAB’s Office of Interprofessional Simulation (OIPS). During his time with OIPS, Jarrod was project lead on multiple OIPS strategic priorities, including product design projects with the School of Engineering, and was responsible for training and supervising simulation specialists, simulation technicians, and work study students in OIPS. Before entering the field of healthcare simulation, he worked as a rehabilitation engineer where he specialized in rehabilitation assistive technologies, including ergonomic considerations, product design, and product modifications.

In addition to his responsibilities at CHIPS, Mr. Young volunteers in many different roles and committees within the Society for Simulation in Healthcare (SSH). He is currently a volunteer Accreditation Site Reviewer and voting member of the Accreditation Council. He also serves as the Co-Chair for the Education Workgroup within the Simulation Operations and Technology Section (SOTS). Mr. Young also served as a team member on the development of the CHSOS-A certification and currently serves as a member of the CHSOS Advisory Team. He previously served as a Planning Co-Chair for the SimOps 2021 conference in Tampa, FL and currently serves as a Planning Co-Chair for the International Meeting on Simulation in Healthcare (IMSH) 2023 in Orlando, FL.

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Intro:

Welcome to The Sim Cafe, a podcast produced by the team at Innovative Simsolutions, Edited by Shelly Houser. Join our host Deb Tauber, as she sits down with subject matter experts from across the globe to reimagine clinical education and the use of simulation. So pour yourself a cup of relaxation, sit back, tune in and learn something new from The Sim Cafe.

Deb:

Welcome to another episode of The Sim Cafe. Today, we are truly blessed to have Jared Young. He's a simulation operations lead at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center for Healthcare Improvement in patient simulation, also known as CHIPPS and Mr. Young received his bachelor's in biomedical engineering from the university of Alabama, Birmingham in 2012 in his master in business administration from the university of Tennessee at Martin in 2020 and tiered. Why don't you tell our listeners a little bit about yourself? Why don't you elaborate on that? And thank you again for being on this cafe today.

Jarrod:

The pleasure is all mine, Deb, glad you reached out. Uh, yeah. I love where I am now in sim. Um, I'm sure we'll get into to that long winding journey, uh, here in just a little bit, but they're very much a people person, so grateful to be able to get out here and, and share my story a little bit and, and connect with all the listeners out there. But my background comes out of operations specialist community through simulation. So I'm really lucky to get my start on the technical side, but now I kind of see myself morphing a little bit more into the policy and procedures, more of the administration side of, of sim. So, you know, my passion is really continuing to build programs and, you know, build these large sustainable simulation programs for, you know, our learners that we support at the end of the day.

Deb:

Great. We have the pleasure of serving on the Council for the Society for Simulation in Healthcare and the Accreditation Council. And so I had the honor of getting to know you even a little bit more and also doing a site review with you. So I appreciate that. And I appreciate all the things in your contributions to the council. You have been such a, a great add to our group. So thank you for that. Now, Jared, why don't you share with our listeners your journey into simulation? How did you start in simulation?

Jarrod:

Well, hopefully it'll be an interesting story. I can see my wife, uh, in my mind saying land the plane. I, uh, I love telling stories, but often get, uh, a little sidetrack there. So I'll do my best to make this short and sweet year, my senior year going through my biomedical engineering program. Um, we had, uh, a student project and so I had been doing an honors project, kind of doing some bench side research and, and that was fine. It was great, but I knew it wasn't really for me. I mean, so through this senior project, I was actually able to connect, I mean, do some rounds in the hospital. So we were able to pop in and observe a few different surgeries. We were able to round with some of the local orthopedic surgeons, and that really kind of sparked my interest in my love for healthcare, right? Like I knew this is something I wanted to be a part of and being able to connect with people was, was a big part of that. And so, you know, throughout the project, we actually worked with local orthopedic surgeon to create a passive range of motion device for, for the patients in his clinic. And so those that were coming out of, uh, shoulder replacement surgery and just kind of drove me more to wanting to find a career where I could, you know, do some of those things and really be involved in healthcare. So, you know, quickly after school, actually that an offer from epic, the electronic healthcare records company and, uh, was engaged at the time and had a weekend to think about it. Right. And so I'm from Montgomery, Alabama, and, uh, epic is in Madison, Wisconsin. So it's a major culture shock, major difference. So I asked my fiance to, to think about it at the time and, uh, checked back in with her Monday saying, Hey, where are you on this? What are you thinking about? And she laughed at me and said, absolutely not like we, we can't survive in the cold. So, you know, at the, I was devastated, right? Like this was my, my end. Maybe this would work out, but, uh, it just opened up another door. So for about a year and a half, I was back in Montgomery, uh, working at the Alabama department or rehab services as a rehab engineer, it was a great job working with people with disabilities. So, uh, we were able to support them to be able to go through school or, or through any of the accommodations that they needed at work, helping them be able to better their lives. So very rewarding, um, something I really enjoyed, but I knew that there was always that draw to get a little bit closer to frontline healthcare. And that opportunity finally popped up by way of going back to, uh, to my Alma mater, to University of Alabama in Birmingham. So I started in simulation at the office for interprofessional simulation at UAB. And the first call that I got to come interview was from who would later become my mentor and, and good friend Dr. Chad Epps. I was able to, to start on there. And it was a wonderful time, so many great educators, so many people that, uh, I was just fortunate to be able to meet in that start and then led me down the road to where I am now, where I've been at chips for the last six years, continuing to, to build and learn from, from the legacy that Dr. Epps left us.

Deb:

Thank you, Jared. The legacy that Dr. Chad Epps left us was....

Jarrod:

Chad was a, a great guy. There's b een a lot of, uh, wonderful people I've met along the way. I'm just lucky that I had the ability to work so closely with him f or, for so long and be able to, t o kind of pick his brain. You know, t he, like I said, I, I've learned so much from my time at UAB, from my time at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, you know, from those that I've met professionally through accreditation through anything I've done through SSH, but yeah, he's, he's the special one that sticks out t o me.

Deb:

Yeah. He was an exemplary model of an ambassador of a accreditor. I mean, I think he modeled for us the best points of how we should professionally help programs is accreditors. So thank you for that, for sharing that let's, um, get into something a little bit lighter since Chad does hang so heavy on all of our hearts. Why don't you share with us your favorite or most impactful simulation story?

Jarrod:

I know if I can pick one, there's so many good ones break the rules a little bit, Deb. So I'll, I'll give you two, I'll give you one that kind of tied everything together for me in healthcare simulation. And then one that really was able to, you know, continue to propel me for professionally. So the first was being able to watch the ICUIP event that we ran at the university of Alabama in Birmingham. This really kind of brought everything together, right? Like we see each simulation, each one is important. It's setting that communication, that, that learned event that we're looking for in sim, like we're, we're trying to meet our objectives. We're trying to pull from our curricular requirements, whatever it may be, our competencies that we need to meet. But, uh, the ICUIP was a great event. There was, uh, seven cases running at a time. And we had, I think up to six different, uh, professions there on the space. So, um, the SIM center there at UAB was an old MICU. So it was like it was coming back to life again, like it, it felt like you were in the hospital. We had patients that were decompensating at different times. And so it really felt like a, you know, a real stint in the ICU. Um, and I think that's what really brought it home to me, being able to see that, see the interaction of all the different professions and the learners working together, communicating, collaborating, making sure that the patients were taken care of and then to see that full group debrief at the end to see everybody circled up and, you know, talking through the objectives and, and what went on, that's kind of what really cemented this to me and the importance of what we're doing and, and really pulled it all together. So I think that that sim probably leaves the biggest impact for me, but for me personally, you know, like I said, my time at UAB, I met a lot of great people. And the story that really sticks out to me is, uh, I was having a conversation. This was within my first year in SIM. So, you know, I'm a, I'm a nobody, and I'm just trying to figure it out and kind of make my way. And one of the educators there, uh, April bell, we were having a conversation and it just really hit home with me. I mean, it's something I'll never forget. You know, we were discussing where we wanted to be in kind of our career trajectory. And at the time, you know, I said, well, you know, I'll progress in this manner. Maybe I'll make it to be a director of operations or a director of technology at some point, but that's probably the, the best that there is for me. And I remember her spinning around in her chair and looking at me and just saying, why would you ever sell yourself short? And like I said, for me at the time, it felt like I'm not clinical. I don't have doctorate in nursing, or I, I don't have a medical degree. You know, what can I really give back to this community in that kinda way? And she said, if you ever sell yourself short, nobody else will ever take you seriously. You know, you can be, and you can make it, you know, it's whatever you want. And that's always stuck with me. So from there, I just continue to, to work and continue to say yes to every opportunity I can, but her words that day, I think still ring true and push me forward to this day.

Deb:

Great. That's, that's wonderful. And I'm glad to hear that. I think our listeners need to hear that, that we, none of us should sell ourselves short, no matter what area of simulation we're in or healthcare, where do you see the future of simulation going, you know, from the experiences you've had and the experiences that, you know, obviously chips is a very well respected center.

Jarrod:

You know, I, I think we really sit kind of on the preface of the next great wave, right? Like healthcare simulation has come a long way, even in my tenure of, of being in SIM to see where it was and, and where it's going now. I mean, we've mentioned accreditation off the top dev. I mean, you look at the number of programs that are becoming accredited now, and res at this point, you can really see the, the true impact of the field and, and how it's growing. You know, for myself, somebody that's nonclinical seeing the number of people coming into the society that's, you know, come at it from, they learn simulation in their nursing school or in their medical school or in their allied health professions. We see it growing and the impact that's been made has been great. I think over the future, I think the focus maybe is shifting from the science of healthcare. I think those that are in healthcare really understand the importance of simulation and what it brings. But I think that the focus is starting to turn more towards that business of healthcare. How can we start to show our value to be able to find that return on investment? Because we all know healthcare simulation is an expensive endeavor, but it is an important one. And it's one that really makes true differences in patient care and patient safety. But how do we start to, to speak that business language, to, to those in healthcare and help them understand the importance of what we do. So I, I really see us growing in that way. And for those that are non-clinical, I think that's, that's where you can come in and make that impact right. To come in and be curious and question how we do things. And I think that will, will really help continue to propel us forward.

Deb:

Thanks. It's a great answer. When did you guys go through the process of accreditation?

Jarrod:

So we actually went through, I think in may of 2021 April or may. So again, accreditation was something that was big for us, you know, it was, it was big for Chad. And so, you know, I think we probably all drank the Kool-Aid at, at CHIPPS, but for us it was, it was that stamp of, you know, that we're doing things the right way based on the standards and that we are trying to have the right output to have the right impact on our learners. On, on the future of patient safety, it really became kind of a, a rally for our team. And everybody bought in. Everybody had a role that they played in that process. And so I think it's only strengthened our team and we've got a, a few people that actually signed up to be site reviewers from the process because they saw the value of, of what it did for us. And they want to be able to see that and, and see other teams continue to succeed and, and really grow the, the field. Thanks,

Deb:

Jared, how do you enjoy being an accreditor?

Jarrod:

It's great. I think it gives you kind of a front row view to all these different programs, right? Like in simulation, it's so easy for us to get caught up in our own program and what we're doing. I mean, there's so much work that has to be done, but it's nice to be able to take a step back and get that front row view and see what other people are doing across the country, across the world and how simulation's growing, how it's continuing to propel, uh, individuals at that institution forward. So I enjoy getting to, to see the great things that are going on, but also to continue to advocate for the great work that I see. I mean, so many programs you see really exemplary work that isn't making its way out of that program for one reason or another, like how we can't continue to push forward without encouraging others to, to step out of that shadow.

Deb:

Absolutely. It it's so much fun to watch a program and to let them know what a great job that they're doing. It just, it warms my heart to think about it. Yeah. I'm gonna ask you a little bit about COVID. So share with me where you guys were and what you did during co the, the pandemic and any lessons that you learned that you can share with our listeners.

Jarrod:

Oh, lessons learned, I guess jokingly the, the first lesson learned is if you ever get called into a meeting about having to shut down the campus, don't just assume it's never gonna happen. Uh, I remember the week or two before we actually shut down, um, thinking like this was, this was a great exercise, but this will never, you know, go into effect. And then little did I know we would be affected for the next two years by it. So yeah. Lesson number one, learn. No, we did a great job being able to, to quickly shift. So we actually had a little bit of an interruption in our work for, uh, somewhere three to six months. We had a lot of events that we had to start going through and, and canceling and kind of trying to restructure virtually where we could. So a lot of us were home for the better part of that six months, but we continue to do just in time training, we had our emergency department physicians and nurses come in and do some prep for getting used to how they were going to be able to go in and intubate patients and be able to treat people in a safe way to keep them safe, their families safe and, and keep those patients safe. So a lot, uh, a lot of training around that, but at the end of the day, we still as an academic, uh, center where task with being able to provide opportunities, learning opportunities for our students and our learners. So we worked virtually to be able to provide whether it was a faculty member, kind of working as the avatar in the room, by themselves with us running the mannequin and the entire class, or, you know, cohort there on zoom talking that, that faculty member through the SIM and kind of how they would work through the scenario. We did some virtual Sims. Uh, we did continue our OSS on, uh, on zoom in a virtual manner. So we continued to support our university and support our local practitioners in the safest way we could. So we probably returned more to normal by about a year in, probably in 2021, but, uh, we still hold on to some of those, uh, lessons that we've learned through virtual learning. And I think the biggest lesson that I would pull out of this for anybody listening is like I said, my background comes from the operations specialist, operations technology section. And I think we really saw the impact and, and the benefit of providing a little bit of downtime for your frontline specialists, your techs. It was amazing the work and, and the thoughts that were able to come from our specialists in our techs, by just giving them a day a week, to have a little bit of downtime and be able to, to dig into professional development and research it's, it's been impactful. So it's something that we're continuing to move forward. We know we're back in person, we've gotta support in person learning, but we've also gotta be able to do right by our employees and support their professional development. So that's probably our biggest lesson learned from, from our time away.

Deb:

That's very important. We have to make sure that we take care of ourselves in all different ways so that we can care for others.

Jarrod:

Yeah. And, and we can't move the field forward if we're not continuing to, to learn new things and bring in new knowledge and new ideas, you know, if we're continuing to churn out the same stuff, it's only ever gonna be status quo. We're never really going to reach that peak that we want to be at two years, five years, 10 years down the road.

Deb:

Agree. Now, Jarod, can you share something with our listeners, the biggest thing that you would like them to know, something that you learned and it changed the way you practice essentially a personal aha moment?

Jarrod:

Oh, um, yeah, I think, again, Deb, that goes back to just knowing that everybody on the team has that unique skill set and something that they can bring to the table. Healthcare simulation has really made a lot of strides, you know, in the last few years and it's in its past history. And for me, that focus really is on continuing to, to advocate for the next group coming through for them to make their impact. And honestly, that's kind of what led to the theme that we have for, uh, IMSH 20, 23 this year is standard of excellence. Recognizing that wave of excellence. That's gotten us to this point, but that somebody else needs to take the Baton that we need to continue to push forward and to advocate for people in that role. Like you don't have to be a political practitioner. You don't have to have these great degrees and this long alphabet behind your name, like you just have to be willing to give it your all and put in the effort. And there's, there's a place for you to be able to, to push them forward. And that's the only way we're gonna be able to move forward. And, and I think by doing that and showing that you'll see some of the, the giants of SIM that, uh, you may be hesitant to, ever to walk up to and, and introduce yourself. They want that for people, they want you to continue to push it forward. And so don't think that you're stuck wherever you are. Are you willing to, to get out of that box

Deb:

Geared, but how are you guys gonna celebrate healthcare simulation week?

Jarrod:

It chips every day we show up is always a celebration, right? Like it's, you know, it's always fun to, to see the different things. We're doing some of the great things that are going on out there coming from the operations specialist background, the hashtag more than just a sim tech push for the year has been great to really see people continue to try to make that impact and be able to, to step out and continue to push the field forward. I'm excited to see that I'm excited for all the professional development and webinars that we've seen for us at, uh, at chips. I think we're, we're planning to have a celebration and just kind of get together, celebrate how far we've come over the last two years and enjoy the fact that we're basically back to normal again. So I think we're trying to recognize the fact that us, like every other program out there has made it through two years of absolute craziness. And yet we all continue to strive and, and push the field forward and, you know, always do the best for our learners that we can.

Deb:

I think in simulation, the pandemic has, in some ways been a silver lining because it has provided an opportunity to take a deep breath, pause and get to know what each other's doing from a virtual perspective,

Jarrod:

A hundred percent agree, Deb. I, I think it gave us that time to pause and really think like it's so easy to get caught up in the monotony of each day, right? Like there's cases that need to be reviewed there's rooms that need to be set up there's fires that need to be put out, especially, you know, for us in, in a large health science center simulation program, things are different every day. It's very easy to just kind of be part of that snowball that's rolling downhill, but the reset that happened through COVID allowed us to be able to kind of strategically plan and start thinking where we wanna see things going to really be able to, to put in a little bit more of our quality initiatives that we want to do, and, and really look at some of our program redesign and really make sure that the impact that we're making is what we were trying to set out and achieve. Right. Be able to continue to push us forward for the next five years in year, 20 years down the road.

Deb:

Excellent. Anything that you wanna ask me?

Jarrod:

What are your plans for healthcare sim week?

Deb:

You know, what I'm actually thinking about doing is maybe visiting some simulation centers in the Chicago area. See if I can get somebody to invite me over and see what they're doing, cuz it's been a while since I've been on the ground.

Jarrod:

Yeah. I, I think that would be awesome. Again, it goes back to when you've seen one sim center, you've seen one SIM center and, you know, it's always great for people to be able to collect that knowledge of what's going on and, and seeing how people operate within their program. So, yeah. Um, I'll, I'll definitely be on the lookout for that, for sure.

Deb:

Yeah. I think I know north shore in Evanston, I believe has recently been accredited and I have a friend out there, so maybe I'll honestly go and visit him this, this healthcare simulation week.

Jarrod:

Yes. I enjoy being in person for sure.

Deb:

Right. So shout it out to John Graham. Well, I think that this has been a wonderful opportunity to get to know you and learn a little bit more about chips and some of the things that you're doing. And I know you do have a big role with, from IMSH this year. How does that feel?<laugh>,

Jarrod:

It's a, it's a busy time of year, for sure. Like you said, things are really rolling here at chips. We're tracking back towards our pre COVID numbers for in person sim our learner hours and our events are really picking back up. So we've been busy onboarding some new staff as well, making sure that that we're ready for the next couple semesters to come. So exciting times our standardized patient program is back in person. We just finished our first college of medicine Ossie that was completely back in person again. So it's very nice to be able to see that going forward. And as you mentioned, IMSH is, is really getting busy. So we should be going through the final stages of accepting the content for the program this fall. So everybody should be receiving their accept decline notifications in the coming weeks. It's been great to be kind of on the other side and see this. I think the one thing I'm jealous of is that I don't get to go to any sessions because I see these titles and these sessions that are being approved and it's, it's amazing the content that we're gonna have a record number of submissions. So we see record attendance as well, and coming out of two years away, I'm as much of an extrovert as anybody else. So hopefully I meet everybody there, right? Like hopefully you come up and, and say, Hey, and I'm just looking forward to it. It's, it'll be busy. But, uh, at the end of the day, the work is for our society. And it's for those that are attending, I know how much of an impact it made to me and my first year. And so, you know, the effort that I put in is for everybody else, it's trying to make sure that IMSH is what everybody dreams and hopes it'll be. We don't want anybody going away with no lessons learned or feeling like they didn't enjoy showing up. So, uh, busy times for me, but I'm excited for it, for sure.

Deb:

Thank you so much for all. You're doing Jared. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And with that happy simulating

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Outro:

Thanks for joining us here at The Sim Cafe. We hope you enjoyed connect with us at www.Innovative Simsolutions.com and be sure to hit that like and subscribe button. So you never miss an episode of TheroSim Cafe.