The participants in the course were doctors and nurses who work at SAk and at the University of Akureyri (UNAK). Many of them are involved in teaching at both institutions.

The course was funded by a grant from the university’s co-operation fund. The grant is intended to build skills and simulation in health sciences at the University of Akureyri and the University of Iceland in collaboration with the Akureyri Hospital, Landspítali University Hospital and the University of Reykjavík.

“With the establishment of the new simulation learning center at SAk, there is an opportunity to further strengthen simulation teaching in the training of healthcare professionals at both SAk and UNHA. To meet increased need for the training we need more instructors and therefore the course,” says the director of education at SAk, Hrafnhildur Lilja Jónsdóttir.

The use of simulated instruction has been increasing in recent years in nursing education at HA and with the expected increase in the number of students the need for specialized instructors increases. Simulated instruction has been used formally in training of staff at SAk since 2010 and since 2017 there have been regular courses in interdisciplinary simulated instruction in emergency situations. The participants of the course come to perform simulated instruction both at SAk and at UNAK.

The participants were selected from different fields of health care that are useful for teaching at both UNHA and SAk. The participants came from UNAK, psychiatric ward, emergency room, intensive care, maternity and gynaecological ward, surgical ward, pediatric ward and SAk's anaesthesia ward.