Constructing Safe Containers for Effective Learning: Vignettes of Breakdown in Psychological Safety During Simulated Scenarios

Abstract

This paper reports on work completed to date comparing a range of approaches to using simulation in industry settings. We document, share and compare across psychological and physical ‘safety’ dimensions in each of our domains, and describe how these are managed in different contexts. The concept of simulation as creating, and then existing, within a ‘safe container,’ a term is used as a metaphor for the context of simulation in action. In this paper we first reprise work undertaken during 2015 to develop baseline comparisons of key simulation factors across our disciplines/activities. Each approach is described separately, then we use the data to extract key points of similarity and difference. Next, we consider what ‘safety’ is in the context of a simulation in action and explore how users can learn with, and from, each other about selecting appropriate strategies to both support and challenge the notion of ‘safety’ in simulation-based learning contexts. The paper does not include a complete consideration of all uses of simulation, however our approach to collecting data, sharing and considering the implications of the emerging array of information is proving to be useful for developing a broader scope with which to consider the issues of safety and learning which are central to the uses of simulation that we are exploring.