Simulation Technician

We are recruiting for 1 post. We are seeking an experienced Simulation Technician to join the team in supporting two top quality educational facilities at King’s College London Located near London Bridge and Denmark Hill, the Chantler and Weston Simulation and Interactive Learning Centres are busy and dynamic inter-professional facilities, providing excellent learning opportunities for over 6,000 healthcare students, from benchtop clinical skills to immersive, high-fidelity simulation of realistic, interprofessional healthcare scenarios, using human patient simulators. 

This role is to provide day-to-day set-up of classes and help to staff, students and visitors to the centre. The centres contain high-fidelity simulated hospital wards, seven wards of 2-8 beds and over twenty clinical classrooms between them, requiring specialist set-up and support. The post holder will be required to set up equipment on a daily basis, working as part of the team to cover the setup and takedown of 20 classrooms. The role includes looking after reception, responding to email enquiries and being the 1st port of call for enquiries from our staff, students and other visitors to the Centre. Set up ranges from putting out chairs to setting up and operating full body patient simulators. The balance of work between the two main sites will be variable.

The job involves room and equipment set up, supporting simulation training sessions, providing advice and support to staff and students, equipment maintenance, stock control and ordering supplies used in clinical teaching.  The post-holder will prepare and operate specialist patient simulators, operate our audio-visual systems, prepare and set up spaces for skills using table-top training models, tidy and maintain all areas to a high standard and keep equipment in good working condition.  You will liaise with teaching staff to clarify their session requirements and make sure the associated documentation is accurate and available on the shared network. You will be supporting students when they are in the centres, controlling access to the independent learning facilities and ensuring the students have everything they need and are following best clinical practice, centre rules and health and safety guidelines.

The successful candidate will have customer service experience and will be motived, hardworking and enthusiastic about developing specialist knowledge of healthcare technology related fields. You will enjoy working directly with students and staff and have a friendly disposition.  You must also be able to work under your own initiative, be responsible for your own work, and willing to undertake your own projects and support colleagues in joint projects.

Flexibility to provide cross-site technical cover, work variably between 8am-4pm and 11am-7pm, carry out moving and handling of heavy equipment, and provide occasional weekend support are all essential. 

This post will be offered on a 12-month contract. 

This is a full-time post. 

Key responsibilities

• Ability to carry out moving and handling of heavy equipment on a regular basis
• Communicate (both orally and in writing) complex information in a clear and precise fashion – liaise and communicate with centre users and effectively set up and take down teaching spaces with specialist training models, accessories and sundries used in medical education, following their requests
• Work within a team or independently (following guidance from your line manager) to set up teaching sessions to a high standard with required teaching equipment, training models, accessories, and consumables, as specified by clinical teachers
• Apply knowledge and experience to maintain and carry out basic troubleshooting of training models, patient simulators and our audio-visual system
• Maintain stock levels in stores and classrooms, ordering consumables & small value equipment, send emails on the Centre’s behalf, provide simple data requested by colleagues, maintain & update Keats, SharePoint, & an inventory system.
• Support the annual stock take; input and organise data to maintain the inventory/asset register system
• Engage in appropriate professional activities or attend training to keep knowledge-base and skills up-to-date and to develop them further  
• Resolve problems that are predictable but do not occur very frequently – applying knowledge and skills to find solutions to problems and occasionally apply expertise to resolve longer term, complex problems and to generate innovative ideas 
• Support the welfare of staff and students, and be committed to the student experience
• Liaise with colleagues to ensure adequate cover of reception.
• Routinely send/respond to emails, phone calls & face to face enquiries and make room bookings.
• Identify & report building problems to estates & facilities.
• Prepare and operate human patient simulators for healthcare simulations and teaching, as specified by clinical teachers. This includes (but is not limited to) medium and High Fidelity simulations.
• Provide training and advice on use of training models & patient simulators to staff and students as appropriate, ensuring the content is understandable to a non-expert audience
• Manage own workload, pattern of work, resources, working independently and without supervision to achieve objectives within your area
• Carry out advanced troubleshooting & repair on equipment, manikins & centre AV.

The above list of responsibilities may not be exhaustive, and the post holder will be required to undertake such tasks and responsibilities as may reasonably be expected within the scope and grading of the post.

Essential criteria

1.      Minimum level 3 qualification (e.g. A levels, AS levels, International Baccalaureate diploma or other level 3 qualification) and previous experience in a relevant or similar post

2.      Experience working in a Simulation Centre, setting up clinical skills classes & supporting teaching or a similar role/environment. 

3.      Experience, interest and a willingness to learn with regard to modern technology and overall good computer skills (inc. Microsoft Office 365).

4.      Familiarity with digital learning technologies (Adobe Creative Cloud, Kaltura/Camtasia) or has a willingness to learn and develop these.

5.      Strong planning & organisational skills, able to work on several tasks simultaneously, using systems and processes to best effect.  Understands how to arrange information in an efficient, effective way and keep systematic records 

6.      Ability to apply learnt techniques/skills to the work context: – interpret customer requests and use knowledge of specialist clinical skills equipment etc. to offer alternatives and provide the best lesson set-up possible.

7.      Experience of priority setting and problem solving – understand what’s important and what can wait, sense what might help to achieve a good outcome and help overcome barriers and problems.  Use analytical approaches to solve problems and explore all options, not simply settling for the first or the easiest

8.      Must have strong customer service skills and experience working directly with either students, customers or patients to provide a service. 

9.      Willingness to undertake cross-site work with early starts (7am) or late finishes (7pm) regularly as required and the occasional weekend work (paid over-time). 

Desirable criteria

1.      A broad range of technical or practical skills and a well-developed working knowledge of technical practices and procedures using a range of clinical training equipment and human patient simulators (e.g. Laerdal, Gaumard, CAE simulation products) and experience of operating audio-visual systems e.g. SMOTs ™or similar audio-visual observation and training system.

2.      Working knowledge of Health & Safety legislation for the field of work, particularly in use of sharp tools and clinical waste disposal 

3.      Experience of filming and editing educational material for online use to a defined standard; and/or previous experience in the use of databases and applications that supporting university level education e.g. Learning management system (KEATS/Moodle), Syllabus Plus, feedback systems 

Interested candidates are warmly invited to come and visit the Chantler SaIL Centre to find out more – refer to contact details above. 

The simulation centres support extended operational hours with staff onsite between 7am and 7pm and occasionally at evenings and weekends.  This post will operate to a pattern of early/standard/late start times.