# The Development and Implementation of a Simulation Orientation Curriculum for Newly Hired Pediatric Emergency Medicine Attending Physicians

## TL;DR

This paper describes a successful simulation-based curriculum to help new pediatric emergency medicine physicians transition into their roles.

## Contribution

The paper introduces a structured, year-long simulation curriculum for newly hired attending physicians, which is a novel approach in emergency medicine orientation.

## Key findings

- The simulation curriculum was well-received by participants and helped them lead acute patient scenarios effectively.
- The approach to curricular design is generalizable to other emergency departments despite site-specific scenarios.
- Two years of the curriculum were completed with 14 participants, showing its feasibility and effectiveness.

## Abstract

The transition from trainee to new attending physician can be overwhelming. Simulation has been shown to be effective in orienting trainees to the emergency department (ED) but there is limited literature on simulation for the orientation of newly hired attending physicians.

The objective of this innovation was to develop, implement, and evaluate a simulation curriculum to supplement the orientation of newly hired attending physicians in our emergency department.

We developed a year‐long quarterly simulation curriculum guided by Kern's six‐step curricular design model. Based on a targeted needs assessment, nine scenarios were chosen for inclusion. These scenarios were arranged to start the curriculum with those simulation scenarios that highlight systems and processes particular to our institution, with a transition towards scenarios requiring more complex team leadership and medical management decisions in the latter portions of the curriculum.

We have completed two years of this curriculum and have had 14 participants in total. Thirteen participants completed the end‐of‐year evaluation. The curriculum has been well received by participants with unanimous agreement that the curriculum helped them lead acute patient scenarios in the resuscitation bay during their first year as a new hire.

Simulation for the orientation of new attending physicians can be implemented successfully and received well by the targeted learners and by leadership invested in supporting new attending physicians. While the specific scenario topics and institutional procedures are site‐specific, the approach to curricular design and implementation is widely generalizable to other EDs.