Patty Norton asked:


How Do You Justify Investing in Business Skills Training During a Recession?

The answer is simple…you can’t afford not to.

During an economic downturn, companies look for opportunities to tighten their belts. Although I don’t want to admit to being a seasoned veteran, I have successfully managed teams through multiple down economies, and corporate right sizing, and I contend it is during these hard times that you need to gain competitive advantage by focusing on improving productivity and gaining optimum performance from every employee.

This is more important today than in years past due to the increased complexity of our business relationships, including working within global teams, dependence on a foray of communications tools, such as email, phone and video conferencing, and web enabled collaboration tools replacing more traditional face?to?face communication, and increased business competition given the global economy.

Communication in Business

Stating the obvious – all business depends on accurate and effective communication. Improving communication and communication skill sets in an organization can dramatically improve performance. Consider the benefit of running timely, effective business meetings that result in decisions being made, or that drive execution results. In contrast, think about the expense incurred by holding ineffective meetings by calculating the number of participants involved along with their collective salaries.

Business writing skills, including developing effective presentations and email etiquette, will assure your points are being communicated. For companies where intellectual property is core to business success – having the properly written documentation can protect company assets and decrease litigation potential.

Diversity Training

Diversity training is another way to drive organizational performance. Here in the Northeast, ethnic diversity is well accepted. But, we are not as aware of diversity in communications styles, or skilled in capitalizing on diversity of thought and ideas. The former can lead to misunderstandings or misinterpretation of the messenger’s intention. There have been numerous business articles written on the financial advantages of having teams that encompass diversity of thought. This is even more critical when working in virtual teams.

Leadership and Management Training

Improved management and leadership skills are critical in challenging times. It is important to retain high employee morale and productivity through coaching, mentoring, and performance improvement. Change Leadership, Managing Risks, and Effective Organizational Communications will all help contribute to continued organizational success.

About New Horizons Computer Learning Centers of Boston

New Horizons Computer Learning Centers of Boston provides learning solutions that help organizations achieve business results, such as increasing productivity and efficiencies, driving revenue, and reducing costs. New Horizons provides customer-focused training choices in multiple formats and delivery methods, offering organizations and individuals top-quality training that can be tailored to meet individual learning styles and specific needs.

Whether you are in search of a solution for the complex training needs of a large, multi-location business, or you are an individual seeking the skills to excel in a new or blossoming career path, New Horizons is your integrated learning solution.

New Horizons of Boston offers Desktop Applications Training, Technical Training, Certification Programs, Business Productivity Solutions, Professional Services and Enterprise Learning Solutions.

To receive Free information about New Horizons of Boston, please visit www.computertrainingnewengland.com. and fill out the contact form.



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Jacob Rich asked:


I’m thinking about enlisting in the air force, im 17 and married and i just have a few questions (i know im young and married but it is something i know will last forever)

-Does every enlisted air force member have to go to technical training school??
If they’re pursuing a career in computer science (programming) and going to school CCAF

and how long does this generally last??

how long after boot camp will i be eligible for military housing for my spouse and I??

I just want some real advice from people who KNOW and have experienced because i know some recruiters feed you loads.

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Oladokun Sulaiman asked:


ne notice _The marine notice on operations and maintenance procedure with great degree of seriousness presented recent accident and their causes. The papers reiterated on the relationship between personal and use of equipment, ship owners and procurement and providing and guide for equipment, operators and assessment or recommendations on limit definitions,, manufacturers and standards and familiarization training on the use of the equipments

Thus in the report Mr. Chive did not specifically specify the role of parties concerned in this report, but his collusive recommendation emphasized on to all concerned the following in the name of safety and associated consequences:

q For operator’s owners to pay serious attention to safe working load and stresses of requirement taking various conditions of operations into consideration in order to define necessary limit.

q For owners make necessary measure of standards and to the manufactures test certification

q For owners and operators to make provision for familiarization program, references and all time avail is guide for use of equipment for personnel.

The notice is quite informative and the sad stories of the incident are well presented, however we think that variation is limited to effect of overload and overstress accidental and their causal – but of this is a focus based notice, we assume it to be perfect.

TSB safety studies – the issu of safety, their cause and recommendation from the above pares allow logic to link to safety studies done by the transportation board of Canada.

The fact that various studies made in the past about accident and their cause proved that human factor contribute the largest share is approve that human remain the best recourses in any aspect of human endeavor. From statistical to building computer models, various analysis has been made in the fast, but he truth about this exercise made by TSB is that behavioral human reliability test can only be undertaking through completion of matrix questionnaire that can reach and sample large demographic and vast number of profession concerned in the studies areas- in this case safe navigation ship associated cooperation, their cooperation and information sharing.

According to the 20 questions given to number of pilots, masters and officer of watch, and the statistics generated from the responses, During the process of the statistical survey, issue relating to cooperation and, planning, briefing, definition of responsibilities, attitude,, arrogant , negligence ., overconfidence , diversity of perception and hostile atmosphere assumption , grudges about legislation ,pointing fingers all of which are vices to lost of conscience to maintain the spirit of teamwork , control , friendly environment were deducted from comments and numerical data’s.

TSB then made the following recommendations by summing the above described problems under the following general areas o that have been bringing friction to safe navigation and that has lead to unnecessary lost of life and damages:

Hand over briefing- under these problem areas TSB emphasized that maintaining interpersonal relationships remain humanistic part of our life anywhere in order to maintain peace and stability – we are just human and we must interact and share information the we can know and make our environment a better place to perform our functions. TSB commend that standardizing handover briefing will result into a natural norms and this help eliminate dangerous vices of assumption, wrong perception and of course naturally bring naturally bring communication and information sharing into the scene –sometime it is true that people of different background find it hard to break the ice, yet we can’t afford to assume in a safety demanding nature of bringing ships into a port-

Language- this has been a long-standing issue, since it is clear to all that shipping and its nature and associated work is too international in nature and the only way to facilitate this is defining a language of operations. The report did not say much about this since IMO has already solved through STCW 95, and IMO way s of doing business is clear, rub peoples mind together on issue the moment, pass agreed regulation and mandate local maritime administration to enforce it, if they don’t then port state control should and it hey don’t then concerned ship risk blacklisting – who don’t want good name. - This hence bring a resolution point to matter relating to communication and language.

Teamwork-cumulative of issue relating to grudges over legistalation, on who takes responsibilities if there is failure, arrogant of who is in charge and realizing who we really are, getting lost in technical aspect of our life has lead many to forget our humanistic part of we to respect one another and provide environmental friendly condition that will naturally bring team work in doing business together- tow head are definitely better than one. TSB conclusion boiling down everything to humanity knowledge and need for trainee is too true and it is a perfect ideas, recommendation to parties coordinating all parties to establish bridge resources management and incorporation same training in licensee scheme for bridge and pilot licensee scheme will definitely compromise many elements that has been affecting cooperation on board.

Again the survey is great, we believe that IMO has a HRA guideline under cirular1073- MEPC 392.doc FSA. Incorporating this studies into other studies made through other methods will definitely be a good complete to that procedure it will give a better result that will give open door to further recommendation and completely validate this report. More so, presenting the above in IMO MSC conference for resolution and approval and passing it to other as formal circular will help a great deal to resolved issue emanated form this exercise.

Canadian coast guard recommendation – discussion on this paper apparently link to the resolved from result of previous studies and make the recommendation made an implementation point through enforcement nature of the coast guard activities. Thus, recommendation has touched more areas of specialization in the manning of ship relating to deck and radio officer, nothing was mentioned regarding engine watch except reference to the reference guidebook.

Recommendation defined clearly responsibilities of watch keepers, masters, their associated equipment, their associated rules, regulations and procedures, various environment and conditions and link between them and the equipment and other external people that directly or indirectly involve in ship and shore activities to fulfill ships mission and sustain safety and teamwork, and of course information exchange to keep all connected.

The defined task ands of person working on board are summarized as follows:

q Basic principles to be observed in keeping navigation watch- regulations under this heading emphasized on responsibilities relating to watch arrangement, fitness for duty, navigation, navigation al equipment Navigational duties and responsibilities, look out, navigation with pilot embarked protection of marine environment.

q Recommendation on operations guidance for officers in charge of a navigation watch – here responsibilities of officers of watch were clarified under issues of taking over the navigational watch, periodic checks of navigational equipment., automatic pilot, electronics navigational aids, radars, navigation in coastal waters, clear water, restricted visibility , calling the masters, navigation with pilot embarked watch keeping personnel, ships at anchor.

q Basic principle requirements for watch in port on ships carrying hazardous cargo-this part detailed watch relating to ship in moored and anchors position, mandatory minimum requirements for watch imports on ships carrying hazardous cargo, and making reference to “recommendation on principle and operations guidance for deck officers in charge of a watch in port” and the “standard for engineering watch keeping on ships “TP4071 AND 7017 as adopted in STCW 78.

q Recommendation on principle s and operational guidance for deck officers in charge of a watch port- this part break down responsibilities in the area of watch arrangement, taking over the watch, and keeping the watch.

q Recommendation on basic guidelines and operational guidance relating to safety radio watch keeping for radiotelephone operators-responsibilities are clearly described under watch keeping duties, action to be taken in cases of distress, urgency and safety , log keeping , maintenance .

International activities report: this report show the how IMO has been using the doctrine of consensus from different proposal government, non-government and interest group and watchdogs to validate his work and regulations through creation of various committee and working to work on specific issue under coordination of MSC, and implementing them through FSI good to and all regulations throughout the years.

In this IMO convention the focus group examined are:

q Maritime safety committee (MSC)-here issue relating to SOLAS adoption amendments, and reorganization, STCW white list, report of subcommittee on bulk liquid and gases ,report of subcommittee on safety of navigation ,, subcommittee on stability , load line and fishing vessel safety are discussed, mandatory application of IMDG code, crime of piracy and armed rubbery at sea, flag state self assessment , NAV 46 ,no anchorage areas amendment proposal , DE 46 life saving appliances , report and WIG, flag state implementation (FSI), technical assistance subcomeetee on maritime safety ,report of subcomeetee on ship design and equipmenet DE43,consider CSD7 relating to UN commission on sustainable development,large passenger ship safety , bulk carrier safety,

q Sub committee on fire protection (FP)-matters discussed here are regulations relation to design of high speed craft ,guidance on simplified means to calculate fire load , guidance on use and installation of carbon dioxide ,UN concern about aerosol fire extinguisher,

q Subcommittee on standards of training and watch keeping (STW)-issues discussed here are validation of model training, training certificate of marine pilots and revision resolution, , follow up action to the 1995 conference to amend 1978 STCW, lawful practice of certificate of competency, casualty analysis, development of guidance on training use of ECDIS,SMPC, development for training in ballast management , development of guidance for ship operating in ice covered waters.

q Subcommittee on bulk liquid and gases (BLG) I items disused under this committee are methodology for oil outflow analysis, MARPOL 73/78 annex and 1 and 2, hazardous material, electrical installation on bulk carrier chemical and gas carrier, MARPOL and floating storage units, IMO green house gas emission.

q Subcommittee on flag state implementation (FSI) measure flag state compliance, self assessment of flag state performance, implication of vessel loosing right o fly a flag, regional operations on port state control, reporting procedure for detention, mandatory report on pollution ,use of Spanish language in certification and SOLAS , illegal fishing

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Dog asked:


I want to do a course on technical writing. suggest me if there are any good training institutes in Pune

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Tim Dunne Maggie Dugan asked:


If the objective of your training program is to give people the technical information they need to do their jobs, you may well be aiming too low. Training programs can achieve multiple objectives, and there are many secondary objectives that can add to the impact of a training curriculum. You’re paying a lot of money to bring all these people together, why not get more out of your training program by taking a little bit of time to design it, carefully, with layered objectives in mind?

Company managers and HR departments like to categorize employee training into two camps: job-specific technical training and management and leadership skill-building training.

Most organizations have some form of technical training. It’s industry-specific, or even job-specific. It teaches the required skills for employees to succeed at the job for which they’ve been hired.

Then there’s the other training, the froo-froo, the fluff, the HR training, usually reserved for managers and often consisting of half-day seminars on topics such as conflict resolution, communication, problem solving, and team building. These are the so-called soft skills.

Too often, the soft skills training involves made up scenarios and role-playing. Oh, how corporate managers love role-playing. (Okay, they don’t, usually.) These skills are important to build good managers and leaders, but so often the people that attend them view their time spent as wasted.

The junior people, on the other hand, are enrolled in the technical training programs. The higher-ups think they’re not yet ready for the management-oriented soft-skills training. Or are they? Consider this: as your entry level and junior people grow within the company and move up the ladder to more serious management roles, these skills are absolutely the skills that they will need.

Building durable skills

We’d suggest that these so-called soft skills are actually durable skills, because they can be used at any level of the company, across organizations and even outside of the work environment. They increase the emotional intelligence quotient of your managers and employees, which impacts the efficiency, productivity and sophistication of your organization.

Here’s our big question: why do companies continue to offer technical training and soft skills or durable-skills training as two separate training programs?

Layering

This deliberate initiative to reinforce more than one learning objective in a training or workshop is what we call layering. It means designing a program with both technical and durable skills in mind.

What we’ve found is that combining these two kinds of trainings is a powerful way to deepen the participant’s learning experience for both types of content. The durable skills provide context for the technical content, and the technical content is made more relevant because of the durable skill-building.

Here’s an example of what we mean:

Let’s say we’re training a group of junior insurance underwriters. It’s not uncommon to give them a case-study; for instance a business case about determining if a claim is fraudulent or legitimate. Instead of just reading and discussing the case, layer in a real-life durable-skill building experience. Put the participants into several teams to study the case. Give them a challenge, for instance, to report back their findings in a comprehensive and succinct presentation.

When the case study is finished, the activity is debriefed, first of all, on its technical content. What was the pertinent information? What was the protocol required? What was the best outcome? What was the learning from the case study? Teams present back their insight into the case based on their discussion. The technical learning objectives are accomplished. It answers the question: what did we learn about our job?

Then there’s a second element to debrief, using prompts to reinforce the durable skills: How did the team work? Who led the discussion? Was it effective? Who took leadership of the team, when, and how? When were you engaged as a team member, and when were you not? This part of the debrief answers the question: What did we learn about ourselves while doing the assignment?

And even a third layer to debrief. Part of the assignment was to make a comprehensive and succinct presentation. Discuss the content and delivery of the presentations and how comprehensive or succinct they were and how they might have been improved. Now you’ve added a third level of learning, with an additional opportunity for reflection on presentation skills.

The team experience is real-time and the content is not pretend or role-played. It’s real-life. The result is a more memorable experience that is deeper on both the technical level and the durable skills level, in this case team leadership skills and potentially, presentation skills. And for those whom the technical content is easy, they have a whole separate learning platform to keep them engaged in the training.

A layered training: what else can you incorporate?

If you recognize that there are a number of learning opportunities that can be woven into a single training, then you can act deliberately to choreograph the training day so the objectives of your organization are better served by the training budget.

A few examples of potential layered training objectives:

Team building

This is the boot-camp phenomenon. Anyone who has been through a rigorous program with a group of people knows the ties built during an offsite multiple-day training can be powerful beyond explanation. This creates an informal mentoring and support network within your organization. It is an opportunity to build lasting employee relationships across platforms at every level.

Building presentation skills

Consider this: a training course is a presentation in itself. External presenters are often skilled presenters. You can take advantage of this expertise by simply asking your presenters to be overt about the process they use to present to the group; this provides a separate learning platform for group members who are tuned in. Now you’re using the training curriculum as an opportunity for internal presenters to hone their presentation skills as well as building technical content and knowledge.

Plus a training course is packed with opportunities to make presentations. After breakout groups do their work, someone has to report back to the full group. Instead of two boring talking heads at a flipchart, inspire participants to make their presentations dynamic and compelling.

Feedback skills

There’s a whole curriculum about giving feedback and other related communication and conflict resolution tools. It can be incorporated into any technical training in the simplest ways. For example, give participants some general guidelines on giving feedback, and then ask them to use it as they give participants feedback on their presentations when they report after a breakout session. The presenting participants can get feedback on their presentations, and the whole group can debrief how that feedback was given. Everybody gets to practice what they need to learn.

Debriefing as a leadership skill

Debriefing is a valuable business tool. In order to have something to debrief, build exercises into the training. Indeed, a training session without exercises is not a training - it’s a lecture. Not only will doing help people remember what they learned, it will wake them up. And, an exercise is an experience, and all experiences are real even if they take place in a training environment. Exercises give practice run-throughs and debrief opportunities. Debriefing invites the participants to educate each other on both content and process.

Mining for organizational challenges

For leadership programs, try not to spend too much time on contrived pretend-scenarios. You can teach leadership skills and tackle important organizational challenges at the same time. It makes sense, since leadership requires the capacity to thoughtfully address the primary challenges facing an organization. If you’re going to role-play, do it on a real challenge, that’s real-time, right now. People will pay more attention. The skills they gain through the activity will be authentic. And there’s a greater chance of really addressing any challenges or conflicts if you’re examining it in the focused environment of a training experience. Don’t be afraid of real life!

Creating internal consulting teams within the organization

People who have been to a ‘layered’ training together develop a camaraderie, shared experience and shared skills, and often loyalty as they get that the organization is investing in them. Imagine that a breakout group bonds while working on a case study during a training. After the training, an organization can leverage these performing teams by creating opportunities to work on special projects, to help solve specific challenges. In fact, identification of these challenges often occurs during training classes. The organization need only have some loose structure in place to reap the benefits of these teams continuing to work on challenges faced by the organization.

Promoting the organization’s core values and mission

Make your mission more than just words on a page. Use debriefs to touch upon and reinforce the company’s vision, mission and its core values. If a company’s mission is authentic, it is intertwined with every aspect of how it functions, day-to-day as well as in training programs. If your training program - even a very simple technical training - doesn’t reinforce your company’s core values and mission, you’re missing an opportunity to bang a drum that needs to be played every chance you get. It’s also a chance to help employees learn and determine if their values are consistent with the company’s values, and vice-versa!





Layering to leadership

Identify the most important durable skill that your organization wants to reinforce. Maybe it’s teamwork. Maybe it’s feedback skills. Whatever it is for your organization, layer this in. For junior level trainings, this may be the only durable skill that gets layered into the curriculum can just touch on one key aspect of the manager’s training.

Introduce durable-skills into training programs and many good things can happen. You’ll get a sense of which of your junior people have the skills to grow as potential managers. You’ll create a common language between junior and senior people as the junior people begin to understand what their bosses are learning in their training. In addition, the company underlines its commitment to its people by giving them a taste of skill building beyond their current job description.

In short, increase the bang for your buck

A good training program will inspire participants to deliberately expand their own self-awareness while on their path to greater leadership. You can speed this process by finding and implementing layering opportunities. Increase the bang, decrease the bucks, and build a training regimen that reinforces the culture you want to create in your organization.



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risktaker asked:


for ex if you did basic training then technical, is that part of your 4 yr contract or after you do both then you have to serve 4 yrs

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Eugene Ballas asked:


The Internet is an inviting place, and ever increasing amounts of people are trying to get a hold on it. Search engine optimization structure has created a lot of opportunities for many individuals who have expertise in web technologies. For beginner folks, proper training with SEO video training series in the art and science of SEO is strongly recommended.

SEO professionals need to have a solid knowledge of designing, developing, programming, searching, web analyzing and its usability. To attain such a valued combination of skills, various training SEO video training series are offered by computer training and management institutes.

These training classes are aimed at achieving the above mentioned skills, and incorporate courses such as a Website marketing training schedule which is meant to provide assistance in developing a financially successful and practical online business. Topics chiefly cover web design tips and lessons, online marketing strategies, developing strong and creative writing skills, tips on improving site traffic, and developing the necessary skills to concentrate on your target market.

Technical training classes are also conducted, which encompass topics related to current affairs such as RSS feeds, installing Word Press and Web 2.0 strategies to name a few.

SEO video training series are additionally offered for Website development, with a special focus on small business owners. These types of training courses are not mandatory, but aim to provide valuable resources for trainees. These courses even include topics, but are not limited to, the basics of HTML, CSS and other essential website development knowledge.

We all know the pace at which web technologies progress, and it makes total sense to get training now so that the more advanced knowledge can be properly absorbed later.

SEO features crucially in the success of any commercial organization and demands serious attention. The effects of SEO on a business can decide its fate. So researching SEO video training series may be what you and your company need to benefit fully from the internet and to start driving that traffic to your web site as desired.



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Anthony Rowley asked:


The use of simulation as a training tool is not new; indeed, it has been used since the 1900s to enhance the overall learning experience. The most well understood use of simulation is flight simulators in the aviation industry.

Several minutes into US Airways A320 Flight 1549 from LaGuardia Airport, N.Y. to Charlotte, N.C., the Captain was put in a position where a difficult decision had to be made: could he guide his US Airways plane to a small airport from just 1,600 feet above the Bronx or would he have to attempt a ‘landing’ in the Hudson River? In the end, he had no choice. Captain Sullenberger executed a text-book landing in the Hudson River. The wings were perfectly balanced, the speed of the aircraft was slow enough to not tear the aircraft apart, and so the Captain was able to save the lives of 155 people. Of course, it didn’t take long for Internet bloggers to claim that they had been landing planes in the Hudson River on Microsoft Flight Simulator for years!

Pilots must spend time on simulators. They have no choice. In simulators, pilots are presented with a problem or scenario and then asked what to do next - to which they must respond as they would in real life. A range of routine emergencies are practiced on a regular basis, for example: engine failures, wind shear, total hydraulic failure and two-engine loss at high altitude. Simulators also allow pilots to practice ‘not so normal’ emergency situations which are all undertaken in the safe confines of a land-based computer controlled flight simulator.

Military use of simulation is also well understood. For years US and Australian military forces have trained together in simulation exercises known as Tandem Thrust to enhance their military skills and develop better cooperation. Tandem Thrust 2003 provided training for a maritime-based commander and staff in crisis action planning and for execution of contingency operations. It involved approximately 8,000 personnel.

Military exercises occur every year. Exercise Cooperative Spirit 2008 was a multinational exercise intended to test and improve interoperability and strengthen ties amongst American, British, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand armed forces. This multinational exercise provided a realistic, counterinsurgency-based, Afghanistan-focused environment, used to test and improve interoperability and ultimately prepare units for coalition combat operations.

Stories emerge from battlefields around the globe where troops are fighting in real-life. Most stories link the strength of our military forces (and their successes) to the highly professional and sophisticated training methods we use.

The investment made in simulation appears to be paying significant dividends in the airline industry and in the military; but can simulation deliver benefits to the broader community or other industries within it?

To answer these questions we must take a step back and look at the history of simulation, its application and its use as a training tool.

What is simulation?

Put simply, simulation is a training tool. The term training is used deliberately. In my view simulation is a planned activity and training is something you do, while learning is something that happens. Of course, people learn while they are training; indeed, the use of simulation creates a synthetic learning environment for participants.

While there are many learning activities that can contribute to a person altering or improving their knowledge, skills and attitudes, the objective of using simulation is to train a person through planned activities.

Simulation-based training generally focuses on the ‘application’ of knowledge. This is the key to understanding its importance. It is one thing for a pilot to learn the theory of landing a plane in a river, but it is another thing to actually apply this acquired knowledge without having practiced it in a controlled environment. Through simulation it is possible to train a pilot to land a plane in a river.

Tips for landing your plane in a river

(Source: John Ladd, Pilot, American Airlines)

Land the airplane as slow as possible without stalling Catch both engines in the water at the same time.

(Note: Hit one wingtip first, and you will ‘cartwheel’ the plane) Keep the landing gear retracted Extend the wing slats and flaps Maintain the optimal glide speed Set the tail of the plane into the water first Land as soft as possible and as slow as possible.

(Note: If the nose is too low and going too fast, you risk flipping the plane tail-over-nose)

Fidelity of training

Simulation is a ‘synthetic’ environment; however, it is made to represent reality. The term fidelity is commonly used to describe the extent to which a simulation replicates the reality. For example, the flight simulators used to train Qantas pilots are considered ‘high-fidelity’, i.e. the simulators look, feel and behave like a real plane.

To create a synthetic learning environment that mimics reality, a significant investment must be made. The extent of investment depends on the subject matter and level of fidelity and resources needed. On 14 October 2008, Captain Mark Ford guided the new $300 million Qantas Airbus A380 in for touch-down at Perth International Airport for the first time. He had been trained on the plane’s $34 million flight simulator so that he could confidently carry out this activity in real-life.

Simulation does not necessarily need to be high-fidelity in order for it to be effective. Role play is a common low-fidelity simulation technique. Role play involves a scenario set by the facilitator where training participants are assigned different roles. The roles assigned to participants usually relate to their real-life role; however, this form of simulation also provides an opportunity to ‘act out’ a role not normally performed by the participant in real life. Role play simulations can sometime use external (professional) actors to increase the level of fidelity (e.g. in the health sector).

One important outcome from simulation is that participants are given the opportunity to consider a scenario from the perspective of others. This opportunity can result in the development of a greater level of sensitivity when working in the real-life environment. The corollary is that simulation can also be used to challenge the conventional way of doing things, assumptions, attitudes and working environment.

In their research paper - A Comparison of Simulation-Based and Conventional Training Methods - Experience Builders llc conclude with the following statement: “A sizable body of research suggests that simulation-based training is generally superior to conventional training methods”. Their paper highlights how participants in simulation-based training can: achieve a deeper understanding of the subject matter, retain knowledge for longer periods of time, display a greater level of interest in the subject matter and be better able to transfer their learning experience to their job than participants using conventional training methods.

More and more organisations are turning to simulation-based training to produce meaningful outcomes.

Advances in technology

Flight simulators are very effective. The 9/11 Commission in the US concluded in 2004 that those responsible for flying the planes into World Trade Centre and Pentagon had used PC-based flight simulators during training.

Flight simulators have been in existence for a long time. Pilots of the first powered aircraft trained by proceeding through a graded sequence of exercises; i.e. they used simulation-based training back in the early 1900s.

Over time, there have been significant advances in technology. Computers entered our everyday lives in the 1960s. Those computers had less processing power than the typical modern mobile phone. Today, computers can recreate virtual environments - clearly demonstrated in flight simulators.

Flight simulators come in many shapes and sizes. Even the most basic home computer can be turned into a powerful flight simulator which can download real-time weather data to ‘fly’ in; fly to thousands of different airports; simulate numerous aircraft types; offer multiplayer ‘games’, operate within a virtual airport and also facilitate online talking with other ‘pilots’. These simulators use real charts and ‘navigate’ using typical instruments and aviation navigation beacons.

It is also possible to include moving cars, trucks, boats, and other aircraft into the surrounding environment as you fly. Finally, you can even join the Virtual Pilots Association.

Today, no airline would dream of sending their pilots up without simulation-based training. The use of these high-fidelity simulators has been so successful it is firmly established as a training tool in pilot certification programs throughout the world.

Law enforcement and intelligence agencies have also entered the simulation scene, one of the largest exercises in Australia being Mercury 04. This multi-jurisdictional counter-terrorism simulation was designed by the National Counter-Terrorism Committee. The objective was to exercise the Australian, state and territory government agencies’ ability to prevent, respond to and recover from terrorist threats and acts of terrorism simultaneously in multiple jurisdictions, testing Australia’s approach to national security and the National Counter-Terrorism Plan.

The exercise ran from 22-26 March 2004 and was Australia’s largest and most ambitious counter-terrorism exercise ever undertaken. It encompassed four jurisdictions, with the primary jurisdictions being the Northern Territory and Tasmania, and secondary jurisdictions being Victoria and South Australia.

A simulation such as Mercury 04 enhances capability, understanding and agency interoperability and contributes to the effectiveness of any response to a real terrorist event.

Two things emerge when one analyses the well-understood simulation environments created for pilots and military/law enforcement participants:

participant ‘immersion’ (i.e. whether the simulation is being taken seriously) is critical. Without it, reality is missing, and simulation-based training is particularly useful in high-risk environments.

Simulation in the Healthcare industry

It makes sense that healthcare professionals are embracing simulation as a highly-effective training tool. Simulation in this environment seems blindingly obvious to the mere mortal – why not practice on a synthetic mannequin before trying out the new surgical procedure on a patient?

When you scrape the surface, there are some more interesting (but less well-known) uses of simulation being deployed in the healthcare environment. Firstly, there are two distinct forms of training in healthcare:

technical skills training, and non-technical skills training.

Technical skills training typically relates to the following:

patient assessment and clinical diagnostic reasoning judgment and decision-making regarding therapy, and procedural knowledge and skills relevant to execution of medical procedures.

Simulation facilitates technical skills training in a risk-free environment.

Non-technical skills training is effectively ‘soft skills’ training which is used to develop practitioners so that they may manage sensitive situations surrounding medical procedures. A simple example of a non-technical skill is the ability to sensitively break bad news to a patient’s family. Non-technical skills are also recognised skills underpinning safe and effective clinical practice.

In the healthcare environment, simulation technologies can involve the use of:

Mannequins - Life-like aspects of people and situations are generated by a mannequin. This can also include ‘theatrical’ interaction of actors and props with mannequins to present high fidelity simulations.

Synthetic Models - These allow users to practise technical skills on synthetic tissue.

Virtual Reality - Where a realistic environment is reproduced on a computer display. The user interacts using instruments similar to those used in real life. Sometimes the realism can be improved by the addition of other sensory inputs, such as tactile (haptic) or auditory feedback.

Haptics - Where tactile information is fed back to the participant; for example, the feel of surgical instruments on tissue.

Actors - The use of real people who role play (act) to reproduce a real-life scenario.

Part-task trainers - Part-task trainers break a skill down into its component parts, which the trainee then practices. They allow repeated practice of individual skills while developing competency and confidence.

Augmented reality - A combination of real-life and virtual objects.

(Source: Australian Society for Simulation in Healthcare. Reproduced and modified with permission)

Teaching methods used within a simulation include (but are not limited to) the following:

Scenarios - Using any of the simulation technologies to enact whole events or components of events.

Case-based - Using other formats including written and oral presentations to present scenarios.

Role play - Using any of the simulation technologies to enact interactions between people, for example, in the health industry by health professionals, patients and the community.

Procedural training - Using any of the simulation technologies as a platform from which to conduct a procedure.

Multimodal formats - Refer to activities which integrate two or more discrete teaching methods or curricula which use a variety of specific formats to address specific individual training objectives.

Debriefing and reflection - To ensure participants maximise training outcomes.

(Source: Australian Society for Simulation in Healthcare. Reproduced with permission)

Advantages of simulation-based training

In the health industry, there are many advantages that arise from using simulation-based training.

The risk to patients or trainees is removed. Many scenarios can be presented, including uncommon but critical situations in which a rapid correct response is needed. Participants can see the results of their decisions and actions; errors can be allowed to occur and reach their conclusion (where in real life a more experienced clinician would have to intervene) so that trainees might be permitted to learn from their mistakes without undesirable consequences. Identical scenarios can be presented to different clinicians within teams. When using mannequin simulators, clinicians can use actual medical equipment, exploring the ergonomics of the human-machine interface. With full re-creations of actual clinical environments, complete interpersonal interactions with other clinical staff can be explored and training on teamwork, leadership, and communication provided. Intensive and non-intrusive recording of the simulation session is feasible, including audio taping, videotaping, and even physiological monitoring of participants (such as ECG or EEG). There are no issues of patient confidentiality and the recordings can be preserved for research, performance assessment, or accreditation. The use of simulation makes the learning experience highly realistic.

(Source: Gaba D. Anesthesiology as a model for patient safety in health care, British Medical Journal 2000; 320:785-8)

In his thesis Virtual Reality Simulators in Surgical Education undertaken at the University of Sydney in 2006), Dr Peter Cosman observed that surgical practice is changing in three fundamental ways:

Surgical technique is evolving rapidly. The general public are becoming increasingly aware of aspects of healthcare provision that impact on outcomes, and are demanding high standards of highly trained health professionals. Workforce and resource issues diminish training opportunities for specialists-in-training, but do not address questions of how to train more specialists in a broader spectrum of practice in a shorter period of time with decreased resources and without causing adverse outcomes for patients.

Medical technology and innovation in procedures has evolved since the beginning of mankind; and it is not expected to stop evolving anytime soon.

His final two conclusions ring very true in the current political landscape. The general public and Ministers react to (very disturbing) news stories of deaths, serious injuries and emotional distress when the health system fails. The general public and the people directly involved then get caught in the standard Health System Crisis Cycle – a cycle of health system failure, media attack, political reaction, blame attribution, enquiry outcomes and band-aid measures until the next failure starts the cycle again.

In all the news surrounding patient safety, the general public find it difficult to understand why attention isn’t being paid to quality training. Dr Cosman succinctly concluded in his paper: “There is no doubt that simulation has a significant function in this environment”.

Simulation is being used to improve patient safety

For all the bad news that emerges from Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, Australia there are many goods news stories that go unheard.

At about 3:00am on the morning of 1 May 2008 a half-cabin marine vessel, allegedly stolen from its berth at Balmain overnight, was hit by a trawler heading out to sea off Bradleys Head in Mosman, NSW.

Dr John Vassiliadis, an Emergency Medicine Specialist at Royal North Shore Hospital (Sydney), was on-call; however, sound asleep when his pager sounded. He awoke to a crisis. As reported in the media, the nine survivors were taken to Royal North Shore Hospital, while five were killed. Dr Vassiliadis quickly prepared himself for a difficult day at the office.

Dr Vassiliadis applied all his skills, both technical and non-technical, to deal with the situation at hand which involved serious injuries, traumatised patients, distressed family and friends, media interest, politicians and the health bureaucrats from all corners of the system. When a crisis happens, everyone wants to be kept ‘fully informed’.

On that day, the patients, families, friends, and the health system was very fortunate to have Dr Vassiliadis involved. Not only is he a highly regarded clinician, but he also delivers the Emergency Medicine Crisis Management (EMCM) course for the Sydney Clinical Skills and Simulation Centre. Developed and run by specialists in Emergency Medicine and Anaesthesia, this course prepares doctors to manage serious acute problems in the Emergency Department.

This course provides an interesting insight into contemporary training techniques used in the healthcare sector. Not only does the course encompass technical skills training, recognition is given the importance of non-technical skills training - the latter being just as important in the context of healthcare, particularly in events such as the one mentioned earlier.

Crisis Resource Management (CRM) - Seven Key Behaviours

1. Know your environment

2. Prepare and plan

3. Call for help early

4. Take a leadership role

5. Allocate attention wisely and use all available resources

6. Prioritise and distribute the workload

7. Communicate effectively

(Source: Sydney Clinical Skills and Simulation Centre)

Developments in the Healthcare sector

The Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing provided funding for the Australian Society for Simulation in Healthcare (ASSH) to conduct a project in non-technical skills training in synthetic learning environments. This project will conclude in April 2009.

In their Request for Tender[1]to engage a consultant for this project, ASSH state, “overall, simulation is under-utilised by all specialties”. One of the stated project objectives is to inform specialist colleges about simulation-based training for non-technical skills and the potential to incorporate this into training curricula.

The Request for Tender identifies that - “even the specialties that have adopted simulation can do more to integrate its applications into the implementation of training curricula”. It also states - “Factors contributing to low utilisation include:

low awareness of its potential low engagement by stakeholders inadequate understanding by curriculum designers and clinical teachers of how it can be incorporated into curricula and training activities lack of knowledge of factors underpinning purchasing decisions and evaluation of its impact and value for money perceived or actual lack of infrastructure, funding and other resources, and a lack of awareness of, or access to, appropriate learning technologies and facilities”.

The adoption of new approaches is always challenging and the Request for Tender acknowledges that “new practices will be more successfully adopted and sustained if a strategic approach is employed”. One objective of the ASSH project is to see simulation better utilised by increasing awareness amongst stakeholders, engaging early adopters to champion it and drive change within their specialty and establishing a sustainable model for delivery which overcomes some of the identified obstacles.

The Commonwealth are also supporting other related initiatives.

The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, through its Australian Safety and Efficacy Register of New Interventional Procedures – Surgical (ASERNIP-S), was engaged by the Commonwealth Government in 2007 to undertake research into the use of simulation in surgical skills training.  The programme, which will conclude at the end of 2010, aims to evaluate different classes of simulation to determine the utility of each in a variety of settings. Professor Guy Maddern, ASERNIP-S Surgical Director, states in the Annual Report 2007 “this important initiative will enable the College over the next three years to define the curriculum and infrastructure support required to provide simulation environments to trainees and Fellows at a variety of sites around the nation”.

These projects are timely in the context of new investment in the healthcare sector.

Show me the money

The Final Report of the Special Commission of Inquiry into Acute Care Services in NSW Public Hospitals by Peter Garling SC, 27 November 2008 identified a health system in a period of crisis. The report is known as the Garling Report.

NSW Health: A typical day

(Source: The Garling Report)

On a typical day for NSW Health across the state of NSW, there will be:

an ambulance responding to an emergency 000 call every 30 seconds; 6,000 patients arriving at Emergency Departments seeking treatment; 4,900 new people being admitted as an in-patient at a hospital; 17,000 people occupying a hospital bed of whom 7,480 are over 65 years old; 7,000 separate procedures performed; and $34 million spent on providing care in public hospitals and for the health of the people of NSW.

Many recommendations contained in the report focused on the need for increased or expanded workforce training capacity and capability. Not surprisingly, simulation was featured in recommendations to enhance skills training. It is worth noting that Garling described NSW hospitals as “good by world standards, in many cases ranking towards the top, but too often unable to deal with the sudden increase in patients, the rising cost of treatment, and the pressures on a skilled workforce spread too thinly and too poorly supported in the dozens of administrative tasks which take them away from their patients”.

The National Health Workforce Taskforce was established in 2006 by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG). In November 2008, COAG agreed to an unprecedented health workforce reform package of $1.6 billion – the single largest investment in the health workforce ever made by Australian governments. It comprises $1.1 billion of Commonwealth funding and $540 million in State funding. Amongst this was a $175.6 million investment in capital infrastructure to support training of the future health workforce, including funding for the construction of new and mobile high-tech simulated learning environments and the expansion of education and training facilities at major regional hospitals.

The cheque made out to: Greater use of simulation in the healthcare sector appears to be in the mail. The challenge will be to implement a coordinated approach to leverage the considerable simulation experience already evidenced in the healthcare sector. A national framework would surely serve to improve outcomes for the general public; however, the challenge may be too great for the system to deal with.

With the benefits of simulation being formally recognised in a high-risk sector; and with simulation being used for non-technical skills training, perhaps it is worth exploring the use of simulation in management training.

Simulation in management

A quick search on ‘Simulation in Management Training’ in Google will result in masses of gunk (that’s Google Junk for short); however, when you start wading through it, a number of areas emerge where simulation is being used:

Project Management Disaster Management Event Management Incident Management Call Centre Management Business Strategy & Planning Safety & Risk Assessment, and Corporate governance and business ethics.

There are countless business game providers. According to one provider, “A policy game offers the ultimate in business education”. While the marketing hype is sometimes hard to take, the complexities of live exercises can be overcome to a large extent through use of integrated gaming and simulation models that allow staff to train across multiple levels and even across multiple organisations to be exposed to the same scenario.

The Simulation Industry Association of Australia (SIAA) exists to advance the research, development, and use of simulation technologies and practices in Australian industry, academia and government. A key activity of the Association is to host SimTecT - the annual Simulation Technology and Training Conference.

At SimTecT 2008, David Urquhart, Macquarie Graduate School of Management (Sydney) and Associate Professor Debbie Richards, Macquarie University (Sydney) demonstrated that the Monte Carlo simulation is an effective way to value a bundle of Human Resource Management (HRM) policies. According to their paper, “the field of HRM addresses issues such as staff costs, performance and turnover – all of which have a basis in uncertainty”. Urquhart and Richards used the GoldSim Monte Carlo simulation software to underpin the project. See www.goldsim.com for more information on this software.

This project served to demonstrate that simulation can be used to model business management scenarios and has the advantage of not interrupting operations. Importantly the modelling demonstrated that simulation software can make it easier for business people to understand and experiment with simulation models.

Many organisations currently reacting to the Global Economic Crisis could be utilising simulation techniques to model the consequences of change. Both economic and social outcomes could be tested. Indeed simulation could also play a role in training those involved in the fall-out from decisions effecting large numbers of people. Just how many senior executives have been trained appropriately to react to angry staff, a media pack and the politician looking for a head to roll?

Approach to simulation

There doesn’t appear to be a prescription for the perfect approach to developing and conducting a simulation. The SIAA website (www.siaa.asn.au) contains a vast amount of material to reference when considering using this training tool.

Simulation should be approached on the basis of:

Planning

The scope of developing and conducting a simulation can be a substantial project – even for a low fidelity approach. The design of course, the resources needed, the tasks which need to be identified and coordinated and the quality assurance all contain significant effort.

Investment

The total effort required to develop and conduct a simulation can be a significant cost. The business case to support this investment must be sound to in order to secure resources needed.

Resources

The human resources, administration systems, simulation technology, infrastructure, facilities and related costs with utilisation of each can add up. Such an investment can require high-level stakeholder support.

Support

In any decision-making process there will be a variety of stakeholders involved. Critical stakeholders are the decision makers, essential stakeholders are those who influence critical stakeholders and those who remain are less important (but not necessarily useless). It is vital that critical and influential stakeholders are ‘on-side’.

The planning, total investment and resources needed means a simulation will need to be supported by those whose opinions count. It is therefore important to undertake careful stakeholder analysis to ensure you gain the right level of support needed.

Conclusion

Simulation is now recognised as a high effective training tool. By default, the exercise must simulate reality; therefore, immersion by participants is critical. Examples presented in this paper highlight the results that can be achieved when simulations are properly planned, investment is made, resources are used effectively and support is gained.

The use of simulation in the Military, Law Enforcement and Healthcare sectors has paved the way for other private and public sector organisations to make greater use of this training tool in its workforce development programmes.

 

[1] Request For Tender (ASSH/001/07), issued by Queensland Health on behalf of the Australian Society for Simulation in Healthcare (ASSH)



Unfinished Kitchen Cabinets

Brandi C asked:


Does anyone know how long the specialized training/technical training for the Administration Clerk MOS? Also, if you know - where is it? I heard its in Camp Lejune (sp?). My husband is thinking of reenlisting and changing his MOS to Admin.

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