May 12, 2020By Lance Baily

Simulation Canada Now Offers Online Courses in Healthcare Simulation

Professional development in healthcare simulation is now available online or on-site with the Simulation Canada organization’s courses! The Simulation Canada goal is to make their courses as accessible and practical as possible, while building relationships and the collaborative clinical simulation community. They have now taken our programming one step further to make professional development as accessible and cost-effective as possible with Simulation Canada – either through on-site courses or online, interactive distance learning. Let’s learn more about these opportunities, including the next course “Keystones Apex in Simulation-Based Education” enrolling now for start dates in June!

Simulation Canada (formerly SIM-one and the Canadian Network for Simulation in Healthcare) have joined forces to build a strong and united interprofessional, cross-sector network for the advancement of simulation in healthcare. They are a not-for-profit organization that connects the simulation community, facilities, and resources across Canada and beyond. The organization advocates for and advances simulated learning in health professions education for the benefit of patient care and safety.

Join with them to engage with our passionate community, contribute to the advancement of simulation, receive discounts on our events, courses and services, connect with our community and experts, receive exclusive news, notices and tips, access grants and funding opportunities, and more.


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New Online Courses from Simulation Canada

Simulation Canada’s online learning programs are a new and exciting education initiative. They structure our online courses as facilitated, interactive programs to maintain the connections and community-building among peers and experts that are a hallmark of our in-person courses. Four courses are currently available for online professional development:

  • Keystones Apex: Comprehensive fundamentals in simulation in healthcare
  • Briefing, Debriefing and Facilitating Simulations
  • Scenario Writing
  • Simulation Research Primer

Courses are offered in an e-learning environment that encourages flexible engagement with peers and course content. Each course is facilitated by Simulation Canada experts and experienced faculty members. Like their in-person courses, online courses may be arranged as private offerings for single organizations or as open courses.

Hosting an Online Course: To organizations interested in virtually hosting an online course, we offer:


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  • Customization and contextualization of our courses to align with your needs
  • Private hosting to focus on development of your simulation team and strategy
  • The option to open the course to external registrants
  • Volume discounts based on the total number of registrants

Their packages are cost-effective and customizable for your needs. Please contact them to discuss the best option that works for you.

Keystones Apex in Simulation-Based Education

The new Keystones Apex program is an intensive and immersive learning program in planning, developing, facilitating and debriefing simulation-based learning in healthcare.



  • ​Upcoming Dates: June 2-30, 2020 – Open registration (Online)
  • Session Schedule: June 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 (1 day per week for 5 weeks), subject to change.
  • Course Fee: $2,200 CAD + HST (member discount available)
  • Class Size: 12

The Keystones of Healthcare Simulation is a certificate program designed for educators who wish to pursue dedicated training and recognition of their skills in simulation-based education. This program supports participants in developing their careers as simulationists, in roles such as educators, leaders, scholars and faculty developers. The Keystones experience is grounded in networking and collaboration. Connections made within this program will be nurtured to further develop practice within the medical simulation community.​ The Keystones Apex program covers all the coursework required to attain the Keystones Certification (additional independent reflection and project work is also required; see the Keystones Certification details for more information).

Who Will Benefit? Educators, quality improvement leads, and patient safety officers with an interest in simulation will benefit from this consolidated program that covers all the critical knowledge and skills to work as a professional simulationist.

What Will Be Learned? Keystones Apex covers content from a number of our other foundational simulationist courses. Key topics covered include:

  • An overall view of what simulation is, why it works, and what makes it work most effectively
  • The variety of simulation modalities available and their strengths
  • Creating simulations and writing simulation scenarios
  • Preparing learners for simulation, facilitating a scenario, and debriefing
  • Working with standardized patients and role-playing
  • The state of the science in simulation-based learning
  • Using simulation for interprofessional education

Learning Outcomes & Benefits: Participants will gain the practical skills that can be immediately be applied on the job. At the end of the program, participants will be able to:

  • Integrate simulations into an educational program
  • Select a simulation modality to best meet particular learning objectives
  • Design, write and run a simulation scenario
  • Brief and debrief simulation participants
  • Advocate for the proven value of simulation

The online version of Keystones APEX will cover the same content as the original in-person course. It will provide a similar interactive and collaborative environment for learners with various activities and online applications to support interactivity at a distance – both with peers and with expert facilitators. To optimize interactivity and collaboration, the course instructors will provide:

  • Interactive live web lectures with an expert facilitator
  • Pre-class readings and activities with online course materials and content
  • Interactive group and individual activities & assignments
  • An opportunity to apply learning through developing and designing a scenario
  • Personalized coaching during the course to create a simulation scenario with the opportunity for additional coaching after course completion
  • Short recorded guest lectures by leading Canadian simulationists

Learn More & Register for Upcoming Courses on the SIM-One Website Here!


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