Program Goals

• Train health care professionals on the management of a variety of pediatric medical conditions, including high-risk and/or high-acuity conditions
• Rehearse effective teamwork principles and communication during medical events and procedures
• Optimize the health care system by identifying and correcting safety threats and improving the efficiency and quality of care
• Generate new knowledge and scholarship

Session Locations

Sessions are conducted in multiple locations within Norton Children’s Hospital in downtown Louisville, Kentucky, including the emergency department, OR/recovery, “Just for Kids” Critical Care Center, Transport Team and all inpatient floors.

SPARC Program: What to Expect

• A typical session starts with an introduction to the skills that will be needed for that particular situation. Critical events are simulated using one of a fleet of high-fidelity patient simulators.
• Simulations may be recorded so that participants can review their performance.
• After each simulation, participants are debriefed by program faculty.
• During this time, they reflect on their actions and discuss development strategies to address any issues.
• The SPARC Program also makes use of rapid cycling simulations, which offer participants repeated rehearsals of key actions, behaviors or communication elements, to provide participants with a muscle memory of what it should feel like when optimally working.
• Family interactions are portrayed using standardized patients as part of the communication skills arm of SPARC, known as FORCE (Focus on Relational Crisis Education) Simulation Program.

Here, clinicians learn important techniques for dealing with the delivery of difficult news to patients and their families. Video-assisted debriefing allows participants to deconstruct and reflect on their experiences, teaching them how to approach such conversations more effectively in the future.