The Canadian Alliance of Nurse Educators Using Simulation, or CAN-Sim, is a collaboration of nurse educators dedicated to excellence in healthcare simulation education and research. Connection of nurse educators and allied health professionals from across Canada and beyond internationally to share their knowledge, resources, and expertise in areas of clinical simulation, which also includes research and education. HealthySimulation.com is a proud media partner of CAN-Sim. This HealthySimulation.com article will highlight the benefits of CAN-Sim membership.
CAN-Sim Mission and Vision
The CAN-Sim vision is “Excellence in simulation education and research through networking.” The CAN-Sim mission is “Connecting nurse educators and allied health partners from across Canada and beyond to share knowledge, resources, and expertise in areas of simulation education and research.”
CAN-Sim believes that collaboration strengthens their reach and also impact. CAN-Sim believes their mentorship to their members strengthens their membership. CAN-Sim believes that innovation moves the art and science of healthcare simulation forward. CAN-Sim believes that scholarly activities support nurse educators to be inspired to be a part of new research.
The strategic priorities of CAN-Sim are aligned with their mission and vision. CAN-Sim has identified these strategic priorities:
- To support the collaboration between nurse educators in healthcare simulation design and integration in the context of nursing and interdisciplinary teams
- To enhance expertise in evidence-based healthcare simulation teaching and learning through professional development and mentorship
- To enhance clinical simulation-based learning through the sharing of scenarios and resources between members
- To implement strategies that promote the development, application, and dissemination of healthcare simulation research
- To support a continuum of research activities to assist and sustain research among nursing and related healthcare educators
View the HealthySimulation.com Webinar Transforming Nursing Education: Embracing Virtual Reality in Training to learn more!
Membership in CAN-Sim offers numerous opportunities to network and share resources with nurse educators and allied health professionals who utilize clinical simulation, both within Canada and internationally. CAN-Sim members benefit from a high number of networking opportunities and the ability to share resources with other simulation nurse educators from across Canada and beyond, with an international reach. CAN-Sim offers a variety of membership options to meet the needs of potential members.
CAN-Sim currently offers over 120 virtual simulation games, with more in development. There is also access to 100 healthcare simulation scenarios, recorded webinars, and a large amount of research and resources. A CAN-Sim membership benefits individuals and organizations in many ways. There are a number of different membership categories that are available to suit the needs of many involved in healthcare simulation education.
There are a number of membership options available for those interested in CAN-Sim membership. A full membership includes access to over 100 clinical simulations, more than 200 virtual simulation games, and a variety of other resources. There is an annual membership option that allows for access to all CAN-Sim benefits for a period of one year. There is a lifetime membership option that allows access to all CAN-Sim benefits in addition to the open-access resources in perpetuity. The organizational membership allows an individual and up to 15 other people in an organization to receive access to all CAN-Sim benefits. The membership options are incredibly reasonable given the access and resources provided to CAN-Sim members.
Limited memberships are available, which provide access only to the open-source clinical simulations and virtual simulation games. There is also a general member option that provides access to the monthly newsletter and open-access resources. There is a student membership option that provides access to the monthly newsletter and open-access resources. These membership options are all free to sign up for.
Paid Membership Benefits to CAN-Sim
With a paid membership, members will receive these benefits:
- Monthly CAN-Sim newsletter
- Access to all virtual simulation games
- Access to all healthcare simulation scenarios
- Network capabilities with access to membership directory
- Research mentorship and collaborations
- Exclusive research grant opportunities and awards
- Free registration to CAN-Sim webinars
- Access to the CAN-Sim webinar library
- Discount of 15% on all CAN-Sim workshops
- Membership certificates
How to Become a CAN-Sim Member that Provides Contributions
There is the option to be able to receive a free annual membership through sharing a developed healthcare simulation scenario or virtual game. In exchange for this, there will be access given to:
- CAN-Sim scenario design templates
- CAN-Sim evaluation tools
- Comprehensive repository of bilingual peer-reviewed scenarios
- Variety of serious virtual games used for pre simulation preparation or full clinical simulations
- Opportunity to collaborate in various healthcare simulation research projects
- Mentorship from healthcare simulation experts across Canada
As a member who contributes to CAN-Sim this ensures that the CAN-Sim scenario library will continue to grow and also supports the free exchange of healthcare simulation resources. CAN-Sim is proud to be able to provide access to a large number of open-access virtual simulations and additional virtual simulations for both paid and contributing members. French language games are in final development stages and will be available on request to CAN-Sim in the future.
The CAN-Sim Members Only area has a broad range of virtual simulation topics such as: sexuality/gender, racism, communication, and team-based skills, as well as a number of both adult, pediatric, and community-based virtual simulations. In the Members Only section, there is also an open-access scenario library from a number of external institutions and contributors. The Member’s area also has an open-access webinar series with a broad range of topics from a number of quality presenters.
Currently, this is a list of the members-only webinars that CAN-Sim members and their partners have completed and are available to be viewed:
- Developing family visit simulations to engage first-year nursing students
- CASN Virtual Simulation Vendor Showcase
- Why is Debriefing so Important and How Do I Use it to Foster Learning?
- Virtual Experiences in Nursing Education: Experiences of Canadian Nurse Educators
View the new HealthySimulation.com Community Nursing Simulation Group to discuss this topic with your Global Healthcare Simulation peers!
Launch of the CAN-Sim Virtual Simulation Game Website
- Formal training efforts to develop simulation educators: An integrative review
- Building on the Basics and Best Practices for Debriefing
- Establishing Psychological Safety In Simulation
- Preparing for the CHSE Exam
- CASN Innovations in Teaching and Learning – The Use of Virtual Simulation Games (VSG) in Nursing
CAN-Sim Research Interest Group
A number of CAN-Sim members expressed an interest to explore research collaborations. So, CAN-Sim established a healthcare simulation research interest group. This research group is a benefit that is offered to CAN-Sim full members (either paid or contributing members) that provides opportunities for collaboration and mentorship in healthcare simulation research.
Research interest group benefits include monthly meet-ups, multi-site research collaborations, mentorship for research design and implementation, mentorship for research presentations and publications, networking opportunities with healthcare simulation researchers, and access to current research interest group projects.
The Canadian Alliance of Nurse Educators using Simulation (CAN-Sim) Board of Directors and Research Grants Committee are pleased to fund impactful research projects related to healthcare simulation. The CAN-Sim Research Grants were established for nurse educators and graduate student nurses to assist to build nursing simulation research for both those interested from Canada and internationally.
The general eligibility criteria for CAN-Sim research grants will be to support healthcare simulation and/or nurse-led research or innovation projects. These projects may involve any type of clinical simulation, such as high-fidelity patient simulation, standardized patient simulation, virtual simulation, virtual reality, and escape rooms. Projects that apply for the CAN-Sim research grant should address a clinical or educational research gap.
