Our Team
Dr Margaret Bearman
Senior Lecturer,
Faculty Medicine, Nursing & Health Sciences
Monash University
Dr Margaret Bearman convenes the Graduate Certificate of Clinical Simulation for Health Professions Education and Educational Research (HealthPEER), within the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University. She began her career within health informatics with an interest in computer-mediated learning development and her doctorate investigated the use of virtual patient methodologies to teach communication skills to medical students. In the last seven years she has focussed upon health professional education and educational research. Recently completed simulation-related projects include: the development of a program teaching non-technical skills via simulation for surgical trainees; and the evaluation of current and future use of simulation across Australian medical curricula.
Margaret has extensive experience in qualitative and quantitative research methods, and has published in the leading health professional education journals of Academic Medicine, Medical Education and Advances in Health Sciences Education. She was a key researcher on the national Australian Medical Education Study, which received widespread media coverage in 2010. Her research interests include: qualitative understandings of simulation use and experiences within health professional education; underperformance in clinical environments; and assessing teaching quality. Her current research projects include an Australian Learning and Teaching Council funded project investigated teacher quality in tertiary education.
She currently teaches at postgraduate level in: narrative and case-based learning methodologies; critical appraisal; virtual patients; simulation scenario development; educational theory; and research methodologies. She has developed curricula for undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing health professional education programs. Margaret has worked collaboratively with a range of disciplines, including medicine, psychology, pharmacy, nutrition and dietetics, physiotherapy, paramedics and nursing. She has used a range of different simulation modalities in her career including: virtual patients, on-line role-play, manikins and simulated patients.
Margaret is also a published author and award-winning short film maker.
Professor Peter Michael Brooks
Director, Australian Health Workforce Institute
Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry, Health Sciences
The University of Melbourne
Peter is currently Director of the Australian Health Workforce Institute (AHWI) at The University of Melbourne. He has held previous posts as Executive Dean of Health Sciences at the University of Queensland; Professor of Medicine at St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney (University of New South Wales) and was the Foundation Professor of Rheumatology at the Royal North Shore Hospital and the University of Sydney. He completed his medical training at Monash University in Melbourne and then studied rheumatology under Professor Watson Buchanan in Glasgow.
As a rheumatologist, with a key research interest in the treatment and epidemiology of rheumatic diseases, he has over 400 peer reviewed publications. However, he also has a major interest in development of postgraduate clinical training. More recently he has developed an interest in health workforce, inter-professional learning and simulation as a learning technology. As the Director of AHWI he is developing an evidence base for Health Workforce policy and innovation.
Peter sits on or has been a member of a number of Boards including: Queensland Institute for Medical Research, PriMed - medical education, Mater Medical Research Institute, International Steering Committee Bone and Joint Decade 2000-2012, Epworth Hospital Board 2008-, Gallipoli Foundation, Executive Committee OMERACT (Outcome Measures in Arthritis Clinical Trials) and International Editorial Advisory Board of the British Medical Journal.
He has extensive experience in running academic units, Department of Rheumatology Royal North Shore Hospital, Department of Medicine, St Vincent's Hospital Sydney and the Faculty of Health Sciences, The University of Queensland (budget of $160 million per annum). He also has extensive experience in trial design, research methodology and innovation in healthcare, particularly new models of care and new health workers i.e. physician assistants and nurse practitioners. Peter has had a broad experience at dealing with Government and non Government agencies at a State, Federal and international level.
Peter's interest in simulation has led to his appointment as Convenor of SimHealth 2011 /2012 - the major scientific conference of the Australian Society of Simulation in Health.
Mr Dylan Campher
Dylan Campher is the Director of Simulation at the Queensland Health Clinical Skills Development Service. He trained as an Anaesthetic Technician and Auto-Transfusionist, graduating in 2002. He has worked in operating theatres of tertiary hospitals in New Zealand and Australia and won the Prof. Cramond award for Anaesthetic Technician of the year in 2004, Australia.
Dylan took on the role of Simulation Coordinator at the SDC in 2005, and has a strong interest in creating high fidelity environments, systems redesign and evaluation of simulation technology. He has presented internationally on these topics, as well as having several publications in peer reviewed journals. Dylan has professionally developed his career to include a Graduate Certificate in Healthcare Simulation, Graduate Certificate in Healthcare Management and co-authoring the book Medical Crisis Management – Improving Performance Under Pressure. With his vision Dylan has guided and encouraged his team to become well recognised for their expertise in simulation education, In-Situ simulation establishment, equipment design, running and repair.
Dylan has two children, Milla and Ryan. In their spare time they enjoy cattle farming on the family property.
Ms Kirsty Freeman
Manager, ECU Health Simulation Centre
Edith Cowan University
With a varied clinical background in midwifery, general medical - surgical and perioperative nursing, Kirsty has specialised in the development of simulation based learning programs across the University since 2008, having scripted, directed and produced a variety of teaching and learning resources for undergraduate and postgraduate courses and for the University's industry partners.
An Executive Committee Member of the Australian Society for Simulation in Healthcare (ASSH), and the Secretary for the Nursing Special Interest Group within the International Society for Simulation in Healthcare (SSH), Kirsty coordinated two Health Workforce Australia funded projects evaluating the validity and application of simulated learning environments in nursing and paramedicine.
As manager of the ECU Health Simulation Centre, Kirsty works closely with key stakeholders in the development of a range of simulated learning strategies for ECU, in particular the management of the high fidelity contract for the Department of Health WA. Her passion is to build a sustainable simulation workforce for Western Australia.
Professor Jennene Greenhill
Associate Dean, Flinders Innovations in Clinical Education
Director, Flinders University Rural Clinical School
Jennene is currently Associate Dean, Flinders Innovations in Clinical Education and Director of Flinders University Rural Clinical School and Coordinator of the Masters in Clinical Education program. Her PhD from the University of Queensland Business School was a longitudinal study of organizational change and inertia in health services, using complexity theory. Jennene also has a BA in Sociology and a Master of Social Planning and Development with a dissertation on institutional reform in mental health services. She has had an interesting and diverse career spanning 20+ years, with experience at senior levels in clinical, management, simulation education and research, in acute and community-based health services.
As Director of the Rural Clinical School she has the pleasure of working with rural clinicians, GPs, specialists, nurses and allied health professionals, who are highly skilled and incredibly versatile, as well as passionate about education. They are the life blood of rural health and need to be supported to attract a new generation of rural clinicians.
Jennene has put clinical simulation at the forefront of programs to reverse the rural workforce drought through innovation, community engaged education and research. She has two PhD students undertaking simulation research and enjoys the privilege of sharing the transition from student to clinician to clinical teacher. She leads the Flinders Sim-u-net team who design and deliver a widely disseminated program of simulation education from Adelaide to Darwin across rural South Australia and the NT. This year the team was recognised winning two ALTC awards for their simulation education programs. Jennene strongly believes that symbiotic partnerships are the key to success and she truly appreciates the enormous commitment from staff, students and communities.
Professor Brian Jolly
Director, Health Workforce Education & Assessment Research Team,
Monash University
Chair, ASSH
Brian has interests in the development of clinical education generally and in the use of simulation for learning and assessment. He was Chief Investigator on the recent HWA funded project to review opportunities for using simulation in undergraduate medical curricula across Australia.
A graduate in Psychology, Brian began working in medical education in 1972, initially as a producer of medical educational media. In 1989 he obtained a UK Enterprise in Higher Education grant for staff development and student-centred education - at that time the largest ever grant awarded for medical education.
In 1993 he co-led a team in a successful tender to the Commonwealth Government of Australia for a research project to scope and advise on training for general practitioners.
His PhD was awarded for work on clinical education at Maastricht University, the Netherlands, having previously gained a master of education degree in curriculum studies in higher education from Sussex University in 1981. He became a full time academic in 1995.
In January 2002 he became Professor of Medical Education and Director, Centre for Medical and Health Sciences Education, Monash University. He was on the Federal Ministerial Steering Committee for the Australian Medical Education Study, and in 2009 co-hosted the Ottawa International Conference on Medical Education - Ozzawa 2008. He is a member of the Postgraduate Medical Council of Victoria, and of various committees associated with the Australian Curriculum Framework for Junior Doctors. He is a Deputy Editor of Medical Education.
He now leads the Health Workforce Education and Assessment Research team in the faculty and has over 130 peer reviewed publications, has edited two books and contributed chapters to many more. His Hirsch "h-index” is currently 21.
Professor Debra Nestel
Professor of Medical Education
Gippsland Medical School (GMS)
Monash University
Debra Nestel is Professor of Medical Education, Gippsland Medical School (GMS), Monash University, Australia. Over the last 30 years, she has worked at the University of Hong Kong and Imperial College London. Her research interests include the role of simulation in supporting learning. Debra pioneered the concept of patient-focused simulation with her colleague Roger Kneebone. The approach has been adopted internationally for teaching, learning and assessing procedural skills in medical education.
Debra has extensive experience of working with simulated patients to support the development of communication and other professional skills. This experience includes scenario development, training methods for role portrayal and feedback to learners. A thread through much of her work is the need for authentic simulation. In simulated patient methodology this means offering authentic patient perspectives.
A focus of her current simulation-based research is finding ways to make high quality simulation-based education accessible to the health workforce through the concept of ‘Distributed Simulation’.
Debra uses qualitative research methods and has expertise in program evaluation. Social learning and instructional design theories underpin her educational program design.
Debra holds an honorary professorial appointment at the University of Melbourne where she has developed a Master’s level program in Surgical Education to be offered with the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. She remains a consultant to Imperial College where she contributes to various research and educational programs.
Debra has published over 130 peer-reviewed publications and several book chapters in the field of clinical communication and simulation-based education.
Professor Harry Owen
Clinical Simulation Educator
Flinders University Rural Clinical School
Harry Owen is Professor of Anaesthesia and Pain Medicine at Flinders University and Director of the School of Medicine Clinical Skills and Simulation Unit (CSSU) based in Adelaide and the Rural Clinical School Simulation Unit based in Renmark.
Harry has published research in medical education and clinical discipline journals and presented at several national and international meeting. Harry s current R&D activity covers development of new simulation technology, improving transfer of training from simulation to clinical practice and systems for tracking training needs and performance assessment. Harry and his team received a national citation in 2011 for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning.
Ms Leanne Rogers
Clinical Simulation Educator
Flinders University Rural Clinical School
Leanne is a Clinical Simulation Educator at Flinders University Rural Clinical School in Renmark South Australia. She has a background in nursing and resuscitation education and has post-graduate qualifications in Clinical Education. Teaching responsibilities include: Flinders University GEMP PRCC Simulation Education and Topic Co Coordinator, Simulation in Clinical Education, Masters in Clinical Education.
In 2010 Leanne was a recipient of an Executive Dean's Teaching Excellence Award and in 2011 was part of a team that received an Australian Learning and Teaching Council Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning. The team pioneered high-fidelity patient simulation in basic medical education to teach emergency care of the very sick in both metropolitan and regional settings. A focus of Leanne's work is innovation and creatively changing delivery methods to enhance learning and embed knowledge that can readily be used in clinical practice to enhance safety and quality of patient care, for example using diverse simulation techniques to assist newly registered nurses with their transition to rural professional practice. This ability and her skill's in simulation ideally equipped her to transform an old hospital operating theatre into a versatile multidisciplinary Clinical Simulation Centre. She designed the first designated vehicle, the 'SimVan' that allows simulation equipment and props to be transported around the state allowing training to occur in situ for undergraduates and post graduate health professionals in rural locations.
Leanne is a regular presenter at SimHealth, Spark of Life and Quality and Safety in Healthcare conferences. Her passion is simulation for rural healthcare professionals and she has been successful in putting Rural Simulation Education on the agenda of Australian Society Simulation Healthcare.
Professor Cobie J Rudd
Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Health Advancement)
Edith Cowan University
Cobie Rudd is Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Health Advancement) and Chair in Mental Health at Edith Cowan University (ECU). As a member of ECU's Executive Team, she has the mandate to help drive the University's rapidly expanding profile in health research and undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In 2007, she established the ECU Health Simulation Centre and in 2010, led three Health Workforce Australia funded national projects looking at embedding simulation across curricula for Paramedicine, Nursing and Clinical Psychology. She is presently a Project Leader for an Australian Learning and Teaching Council project: Creating Cultural Empathy and Challenging Attitudes through Indigenous Narratives and was successful in gaining $4.6 million funding from the Commonwealth Government under the Increased Clinical Training Capacity Program to establish the Interprofessional Learning Ambulatory Care Program at ECU. In 2011, ECU was awarded $5.6 million in Collaborative Research Network funding with Cobie as the lead for the stream Integrated Health Services to Enhance Community-Based Health Care. This research includes developing evidence-based models of health care and service delivery and the subsequent educational approaches required including inter-professional learning (IPL) and learning through simulation.
For her work in learning through simulation, in May 2011, she was announced as one of five recipients of the National Teaching Fellowships funded by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council / Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.
She currently has a number of current corporate governance appointments, including as a Director, Board of the International Society for Simulation in Healthcare.
Professor Rudd previously lived and worked in Queensland and Canberra in strategic health policy research and advisory roles.
Dr. Cyle Sprick
Cyle is Deputy Director of the Simulation Unit in the Flinders University School of Medicine. He manages the simulation facility and associated teaching for medical students, interns, residents and other health professionals. Cyle is topic coordinator for several topics in the School of Medicine including BLS in first year, the Acute Block in 2nd year transition to clinical practice, the 4th year Professional Induction to Clinical Practice and 'Simulation in Healthcare' as part of the Masters of Clinical Education.
He was instrumental in implementing a web-based video review system for the school and is active in promoting the use of ePortfolios among healthcare workers and students. Cyle's research is focused on design and production of novel simulators to enhance healthcare education and the use of video assisted debriefing and feedback.
Before moving to Australia in 2000, Cyle worked for Oceaneering Space Systems (a NASA contractor) as an engineer and project manager designing and building cryogenic (liquid air) based life support systems for astronaut training, firefighters and haz-mat workers. He was principal investigator on the design of a liquid oxygen based life support system for the Mars mission space suit, and worked on various robotics projects including ‘Robonaut’ a teleoperated robot designed to minimise EVA (spacewalking) time for astronauts.
Cyle was a Paramedic Team Leader for the League City EMS near Houston Texas, and has been a practicing Paramedic with the SA Ambulance Service since moving to Australia.
Qualifications
- PhD in Biomedical Engineering - Clinical Simulation from Flinders University 2010
- BS in Physics and Scientific Instrumentation and Biomedical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon 1990
- Paramedic - South Australian Ambulance Service
Awards
- ALTC Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning 2011
- Executive Deans Teaching Award 2010
Ms Beverley Sutton
Manager, Health Workforce Education & Assessment Research Team
Manager, Simulation Strategy, Faculty Medicine, Nursing & Health Sciences
Monash University
Over the past 20 years Beverley has gained extensive experience in senior healthcare positions in management and in education and training. Beverley held executive positions in tertiary and outer metropolitan hospitals as well as being the Director of Medical Support Services at the Northern Hospital and the Director of Medical Education at Austin Health. She has a Master of Business Administration (MBA), qualifications in IT and is currently completing the Graduate Certificate in Health Professions Education.
Beverley commenced her career as a registered nurse and midwife. She has worked in the corporate environment in a ‘top five’ chartered accounting firm, Arthur Andersen, as a healthcare management consultant and a major IT company, Unisys, as a healthcare systems consultant.
Beverley has successfully pioneered and managed many changes and innovations in healthcare. Innovations include the development of a model to support, educate and train international medical graduates that receives ongoing DHS funding through the Medical Clinical Educators (MCEs) program. She developed an ICT solution for junior medical staff working in remote areas with limited support and implemented the first postgraduate medical education unit in a Victorian tertiary hospital. She has been a member on a number of committees with the Department of Health and the Postgraduate Medical Council of Victoria (PMCV) including the Medical Workforce and Training Advisory Committee (MWTAC), the Workforce Planning Sub Committee and the International Medical Graduate Sub Committee. She is also a current trainer (in Behavioural Interviewing) and an accreditation surveyor for prevocational medical graduates.
As a Project Manager at Monash University she has completed a number of significant projects including a national project for Health Workforce Australia (HWA) on simulated learning environments (SLE) in the medical curriculum and a Victoria wide project on medical supervision.
Beverley brings this rich background to the AusSETT program.
Professor Marcus Watson
A/Prof Marcus Watson has conducted research on cognitive engineering, decision making, information communications technologies and simulations in healthcare since 1998.
He is the Executive Director of the Queensland Health Clinical Skills Development Service.
A/Prof Watson has 12 years experience in healthcare simulations that builds upon his work in defence simulations. He leads Australia's largest healthcare educational and research simulation program distributed across Queensland. He is an A/Prof in Medical Education at the School of Medicine and an Honorary A/Prof in the School of Psychology at the University of Queensland. His work in healthcare simulations has led the development of systematic approaches to the integration of simulations to address individuals', teams' and systems' concerns.
