The Oxford Simulation Teaching and Research centre (OxSTaR) is a diverse team of clinical educators, students, researchers and professional support staff. Together we are passionate about using simulation-based education (SBE) and novel learning technologies to enhance learning for healthcare students and professionals for the benefit of patients. The OxSTaR team is sector leading in the use of SBE to co-design learning experiences for students and clinicians in complex clinical scenarios. The team has championed the use of extended reality learning environments, including virtual reality (VR); for example, in paediatrics education, where there are limited learning opportunities for students to experience safely the realities of diagnosis and treatment with acutely unwell children.
In addition, the team design and deliver staff development for medical educators within and beyond Oxford to enable them to embed SBE teaching for their students and colleagues across the healthcare professions. The ethos in OxSTaR of collective competence, where collaborations lead to accomplishments that would not otherwise be possible, underpins the success of the team’s partnership working with students. It also underpins our resilience and explains our most recent achievements during Covid-19 when the whole team stepped up to respond to the urgent need for training in new skills during the pandemic. OxSTaR co-created a programme of training using VR for its medical students and Foundation Doctors and made all its new educational resources (including more than 90 films to support staff delivering care in unfamiliar areas) freely available worldwide.
It has seen traffic to its Covid-19 resource pages increase enormously and, since March 2020, has had over 50,000 visits by new users from over 165 countries. Through effective and long-standing collaborations with students and other stakeholders, OxSTaR’s innovative work in SBE has enabled the team’s reach and impact to extend far beyond the boundaries of Oxford. It is committed to supporting global excellence in SBE, and will continue to work collaboratively with all its partners to educate the students who will be the healthcare professionals of tomorrow.
