Winners of the RSU public health crisis communication simulation scenario competition announced

The winners of the Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) public health crisis communication simulation competition were announced at the RSU International Student Conference (ISC) on 22 March.

The winner of the simulation competition was a team of students composed of Maija Pēce (Medicine), Viktorija Kuņicina (Public Health) and Annija Ermiča (Public Relations). The team received the main prize – a trip to the 17th European Public Health Conference organised by the European Public Health Association in Lisbon (Portugal).

The main goal of the simulation competition is to promote students' skills in managing and solving public health crisis communication, to popularise the field, as well as to develop a simulation-based educational approach.

Two features make this competition unique: firstly, this was the first time that a competition like this was organised in the field of public health, and secondly, the basic requirement of the competition was to create an interdisciplinary team to address crisis communication from various perspectives.

‘Creating a simulation for crisis communication was a very exciting and educational experience.

We are pleased with the work that we put in and the opportunities we now have, as we will be able to gain valuable experience and possibly even build new contacts,’ said Annija Ermiča from the winning team. Together with her team members, she submitted the scenario “Tobacco product-induced healthcare crisis simulation (TAIVA)”. 

Interdisciplinary Competition Commission

The competition commission was composed of an interdisciplinary team that included Lāsma Šķestere, lecturer and researcher at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Solvita Kļaviņa-Makrecka, Director of the professional bachelor's study programme Public Health, Anda Ķīvīte-Urtāne, Director of the Institute of Public Health, Associate Professor at the Department of Public Health and Epidemiology, Anita Villeruša, Chairperson of the Public Health Association of Latvia, Professor at the Department of Public Health and Epidemiology, Lauma Sprinģe, Lead Researcher at the Institute of Public Health, Assistant Professor at the Department of Public Health and Epidemiology, Laura Maļina, Senior Laboratory Assistant at the Institute of Public Health, Jekaterina Kozačenko, Senior Laboratory Assistant at the Institute of Public Health, and Evita Grigoroviča, Project Group Leader at the Medical Education Technology Centre (METC).

Industry representatives were invited to evaluate the finalists: Jana Feldmane, Director of the Public Health Department of the Ministry of Health, Ivars Svilāns, communication specialist, Viola Daniela Kiseļova, Health Coordinator at the Center for Disease Prevention and Control, and Andreta Slavinska, Acting Director at the METC.

‘Real life hardly ever follows theory as it is outlined in textbooks. Therefore, playing out scenarios as realistically as possible is one of the best ways to incorporate real-life situations into the learning process.

Moreover, combining multiple disciplines and fields helps make it more interesting and allows students to learn from one another,’ Ivars Svilāns explains.

‘The competition gave students the opportunity to gain experience in creating educational content. The results show that RSU students understand what simulations are and how they can be used to achieve learning outcomes.

We at RSU can learn from the students' creative ideas. The interdisciplinary perspective of the competition outlines the directions for the development of simulation-based learning at RSU,’ added Andreta Slavinska.

The competition was open to interdisciplinary teams

A total of 12 scenarios were submitted to the competition, bringing together both Latvian and international students from the Medicine, Public Health, Public Relations, Rehabilitation, and Nutrition Science programmes in different interdisciplinary teams. The commission selected four scenarios from these applications, which were nominated for the final which were held as pitch format presentations at the 10th RSU International Student Conference Health and Social Sciences. Read more

The RSU Public Health Crisis Communication Simulation Scenario Competition Commission thanks the students for their active involvement and the experts for their responsiveness and support.