Simucase

Getting Started with Simucase

• Access Simucase at https://www.simucase.com/
• Faculty accounts are free, but they expire annually
• Note: Faculty who do not have established accounts must contact the Associate Dean for MSW Education to get approval for a new account.
• Contact facultysupport@simucase.com if you are having difficulty with your account or if you need additional accounts
• To begin, select "Library" and then "Search Simulations" or "Search Videos"
• Search by the type of simulation, topic area, age, location and release date
• Learn more about the case by selecting Download Prebrief Material and Curriculum Guide
• The guide will include the referral, the level of the simulation, the topics areas, and learning objectives matched to EPAS standards
• Review the simulation in debrief mode before assigning it to students – this will include debrief questions you can use in a class discussion. Only faculty have access to this mode, which is why you will need to enter a security code that is sent to your email address.

To access Debrief Mode, launch the simulation and click Debrief Mode

Types of Resources

• Assessment simulations encourage students to exercise the clinical decision-making skills required for a full client assessment. Students interact with family and other professionals to gather information pertinent to the case as well as administer assessments to make a diagnosis and provide recommendations.
• Intervention simulations provide students with the opportunity to improve intervention skills; each case includes intervention activities that allow students to practice treatment methods.
• Part-Task Training simulations improve the skill sets necessary for completing specific tasks such as administering an assessment.

Lesson Plans for Social Work

Simucase offers integration ideas through detailed lesson plans:

MSW lesson plans

BSW lesson plans

Simulation cases completed during field placement count towards students' field hours. Simulations help students build confidence and practical skills as they prepare to work with real-life clients. Downtime can be used productively to enhance clinical skills.

Current Simucase Use (Online MSW Program)

When you want to integrate Simucase into a course within the online MSW program, please make sure to review the current usage across the curriculum to avoid repetition. 

Integrating Simucase in your Course

• Provide the students with the link to the Getting Started Checklist
• Provide Students with Login Iink to Simucase (https://www.simucase.com/login).
• Assign the student training video and the practice simulation via the faculty dashboard
• Introduce the first clinical simulation(s) assignment by presenting the referral(s)
• Review key information about the simulation that the students will need to pay close attention to; provide the students with a few topics and learning objectives that you’d like to discuss in the debrief
• Ask students to submit a transcript if they work on the simulation outside of class. You can set up a Canvas Assignment for this purpose.

• Review these important steps:

  • Students need to click ‘Submit the case’ to view the time spent in the simulation and their competency score.

  • Students can click ‘Restart the simulation’ to redo a section in which they scored low.

  • Students need to click ‘View transcript’ and download the transcript by selecting ‘Print/Save to PDF’.

Supplemental Activities

Every simulation includes supplemental activities such as suggested exploration of related theoretical frameworks, self-reflection or class discussion questions. The supplemental activities are found within each simulation in Debrief Mode. They will be listed under the Debrief Questions.

Other Suggestions

• Allow students to complete the simulation in sections
• If this is their introduction to the assessment process, provide them with the areas to assess.
• Review the professions in the collaborators section.
• Tell students which reports they need to read thoroughly.
• Use roleplaying opportunities for Facts and Interpretation

Provide a summary of your client/findings. Practice introducing yourself and explaining your role. Have the other students in the group take on the role of the communication partner.

• Report results to colleagues
• Report to a parent/spouse/caregiver
• Report to the client

Enrolling Students

• Select Dashboard in the upper right of the screen
• Select Create a new group
• The groups you create do not impact other faculty
• Faculty members will have their own groups

Two Modes of Instruction

Students have the option to complete simulations in learning or assessment mode.

• Students should use learning mode if they are completing simulations outside of class without direct supervision.
• Use assessment mode if students are completing the simulations in a classroom or lab setting and direct supervision will be provided.

In the asynchronous online program, students should typically select learning mode, unless otherwise directed.

Score

Students submit a simulation and receive a score summary and transcript. They earn points for reflective decisions and lose points for poor decisions (rejected decisions). There are also decisions that are judged as acceptable, which results in no points awarded or subtracted. Students receive a score in each section of a simulation and then those scores are averaged to create an overall competency score.