Faculty Development for High-Acuity Procedures: A Train-the-Trainer Simulation-Based Innovation for Transvenous...

Emergency medicine faculty are expected to perform and supervise high-acuity, low-occurrence (HALO) procedures despite limited clinical opportunities, placing them at risk for procedural skill decay. Transvenous pacemaker (TVP) placement is a life-saving but infrequently performed intervention. While simulation is widely used for trainees, sustainable faculty development models for procedural maintenance remain limited.

We developed a train-the-trainer, peer-led, simulation-based faculty development program focused on TVP placement within a single academic emergency department. Volunteer faculty trainers received focused preparation in TVP placement, simulator use, and facilitation strategies, and subsequently led small-group refresher sessions using a low-cost, reusable TVP simulator. The intervention was embedded within existing departmental educational venues and incentivized through continuing medical education credit and value-based compensation alignment. Over 1 year, 12 sessions (30-60 min each) were conducted, capped at four learners per session and facilitated by 10 faculty trainers. Faculty completed pre- and post-session surveys assessing prior experience and self-reported comfort with TVP placement. Paired pre- and post-intervention comfort scores were compared.

Fifty-four of 56 eligible faculty participated and completed paired surveys. Baseline exposure to TVP placement was limited, with 37% reporting no prior simulation experience and 24% reporting no prior live placement. Faculty reporting comfort or high comfort with independently placing a TVP increased from 14.8% pre-intervention to 83.3% post-intervention. Mean comfort scores improved from 2.1 ± 0.6 to 3.2 ± 0.6 on a 4-point Likert scale (p < 0.001). The sessions were rated as highly useful (mean 4.9 ± 0.3 on a 5-point Likert scale), and all participants would recommend the training to colleagues.

A train-the-trainer, peer-led simulation model significantly improved faculty comfort with transvenous pacemaker placement while minimizing reliance on centralized simulation resources. Embedding brief, small-group sessions within existing educational structures offers a feasible and scalable approach for maintaining faculty competency in HALO procedures.