Moving hospitals? How can simulation help? 

In the latest of our collaborative episodes with Advances in Simulation, Vic interviews Nathan Oliver about his recent article:  

Oliver, N., Twentyman, K. & Howie, K. ‘Everybody’s voice is important’: using translational simulation as a component of change management. Adv Simul 10, 38 (2025). 

Nathan and team were asked to support the transition to a new hospital in Scotland. They took a very human centred approach, and we discussed Laura Rock’s adage to ‘not answer feelings with facts’ when considering staff anxieties about change. They drew upon Bartenuk’s work to orient their thinking about how change was experienced at the individual level, beyond simply measuring resistance or readiness. 

The simulation strategy, design, delivery and debriefing were guided by Nickson’s IPO model. 

Among many interesting elements, we reflected on the process of Systems focused debriefing, including some great work in this area by others. 

We discussed data strategies for translational simulation, and the challenges of generating actionable insights from translational simulation. 

One other interesting aspect was one of the data collection methods, using post it notes to capture ‘in the moment’ feelings. 

Nathan was also generous with his shout-outs to collaborators in the simulation and the scholarship of this project, including Simon Edgar, Dan Hufton, Vicky Tallentire and of course his co-authors Kathryn Twentyman and Katie Howie. Congratulations to Nathan and the team. 

Happy listening!