CrisisCommsInternal — What I Say to the Team, Today
A 4-round director-level simulation: diagnose a same-day internal crisis, choose audience and informal-leader sequencing, draft an opening 90…
About this simulation
A 90-minute, 4-round basic Express simulation for Spanish vocational training (Formacion Profesional), module 1589 Sistemas de monitorizacion, registro y cuidados criticos of the Tecnico Superior en Electromedicina Clinica (Real Decreto 838/2015).
The learner is Lidia Tajueco, a newly qualified electromedicine technician of the in-house electromedicine service of a fictional district hospital, through 2027, in charge of the twelve critical-care ventilators of its ICU.
Four situations set the year's course: the technical alarm that keeps coming back on a ventilator in use, and what happens to it (the ICU team moves the patient to a verified reserve ventilator, then the ventilator is withdrawn with its log) and how the diagnosis starts (the alarm and event log read with the service manual, the fault reproduced on a test lung with a calibrated analyser); the leak that comes back, and how it is located (the manufacturer's fault tree) and what part is fitted (only the faulty one, with the manufacturer's reference); the disconnection alarm that did not sound at the summer preventive maintenance, and how the preventive is done (the manufacturer's plan, the analyser and every alarm provoked) and what happens with the finding (reported to the hospital's medical-device vigilance officer, Real Decreto 192/2023 article 35, and tested on every ventilator of the model); and how each ventilator goes back to the ICU (verified, UNE-EN 62353 test after repair, handed back in writing) and how each intervention is recorded.
Three critical errors cap the round: alarm limits raised with the patient connected, a failed alarm repaired quietly and the preventive recorded as passed, a ventilator back in the ICU before verification. KPIs: repairs conforming first time, ventilator maintenance cost, hours out of service and risk situations for the patient. No clinical decision is made by the learner. Spanish primary, English parity.
Fictional hospital and people; real regulations and curriculum cited.
What participants learn
After the session, participants will be able to:
- Withdraw a doubtful life-support ventilator in the right order: report the alarm to the nurse in charge and the intensivist, let them move the patient to a verified reserve, then tag the unit with its log intact
- Analyze the alarm and event log with the service manual and reproduce the fault on the bench with a test lung and calibrated analyser, writing hypotheses down and never taking a passed self-test as a diagnosis
- Follow the fault tree with leak tests in the manual's order, inspect the expiratory valve and membrane, calibrate the flow sensor and fit only the part with the manufacturer's reference for that model and serial
- Justify reporting a failed alarm in writing to the medical-device vigilance officer and testing it on every ventilator of the model, rather than repairing it quietly and recording the preventive as passed
- Plan the hand-back to the ICU: ventilator kept out of use until performance, alarms and electrical safety are verified and signed, returned in writing, with an intervention report the next technician can read
Who it is for
An introductory simulation that assumes no prior knowledge of the subject, designed for undergraduate courses. It also works in vocational and high-school programmes and in onboarding sessions.
How a session runs
- The instructor creates a session from the Eureka dashboard and invites the participants.
- Participants play 4 rounds. In each one they submit their decisions and the simulation calculates the results. The first round opens with: martes 19 de enero, 6:50: la alarma que vuelve en la cama 4.
- The simulation can be run in English, Español.
- The instructor follows each participant's progress and results from the dashboard, and uses the class results for the debrief.