Associate Professor Simone Gruenig, recipient of the 2015 Clinical Faculty Award for Excellence in Clinical Teaching by the Faculty of Medicine
Simone has been teaching in the Master of Physical Therapy Program (MPT) since 2007 and has accomplished a great deal during her tenure. She was the first Physical Therapy clinical supervisor in Canada to implement a 4:1 student to instructor ratio clinical placement in an acute hospital care setting at Vancouver General Hospital. In the first 3 years, this program alone trained 80 students and this multiple student to instructor model is now widely used in many settings in BC and across Canada. Simone’s classroom teaching is interactive and she engages her audience through stories and real clinical situations, mostly humorous ones but sometimes shocking ones as well. She embraces interactive and experiential teaching and learning, and often incorporates games and technology to enhance student learning and participation. Simone’s teaching is not limited to the MPT program but also extends to a larger community. Simone created simulated learning modules for the Center of Excellence for Simulation Education and Innovation. These courses were the first simulated modules for Physical Therapists in Canada. The module for the act of suctioning through computerized simulated patients is used for her lab where every student gets a 4 hour hands on lab experience with the simulated patients for all three types of suctioning (oral, nasal and tracheal). Students in the MD and nursing programs also utilize this resource in their curriculum.
The Department is most fortunate to have such an accomplished and admired clinical faculty member.