Ashleigh Barrickman, PharmD, BCACP, CTTS, has been named the recipient of the 2022 David H. Wilks Memorial Award for Excellence in Simulation. Barrickman is a clinical associate professor in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy and director of skills development for the West Virginia University School of Pharmacy.
Created in honor of the late Dr. David H. Wilks, who led the foundation of the David and Jo Ann Shaw Center for Simulation Training and Education for Patient Safety (STEPS) at WVU Health Sciences, the award acknowledges the dedication of faculty who set high standards in teaching and learning at STEPS.
“I am so honored to receive this award,” Barrickman said. “I have truly enjoyed incorporating simulations into our pharmacy curriculum. I was able to learn from simulations as a student, and now, as an educator, I love being able to expand simulated teaching experiences for our future pharmacists. It is very rewarding to watch my students practice and advance their skills so they can learn how to provide excellent patient care.
“Simulation in healthcare is important because it provides students with opportunities to apply content learned in the classroom to a simulated patient or manikin. It also allows faculty to assess students’ clinical knowledge, skills and communication abilities and provide useful feedback to help students grow as professionals. We are very fortunate to have the STEPS Center for our students to learn, practice and engage with patients.”
Barrickman has served as the director of skills development for the School of Pharmacy for the past five years. In this role, she works with faculty to plan, develop, schedule and assess simulations at STEPS. This includes discussing learning objectives, planning logistics for the simulation based on STEPS capabilities, helping with implementation and evaluation, and assisting with post-simulation assessment.
“Ashleigh has worked with faculty to address the need of simulation and has developed or helped develop and implement 12 new simulations in the didactic pharmacy curriculum,” said Mary Stamatakis, PharmD, associate dean for academic affairs and educational innovation and professor of clinical pharmacy, who nominated Barrickman for the award. “Education through simulation is a significant part of Ashleigh’s teaching, thus, this award demonstrates the high level of teaching simulation that she provides.”
In addition to teaching, Barrickman has served as the pharmacy representative on the STEPS Oversight and Integration Leadership Committee since 2018, ensuring that STEPS meets the educational needs for all disciplines utilizing simulation. She also serves as the Curriculum Sub-Committee chair.
Wilks was nationally recognized as an excellent educator and his passion for simulation was instrumental to STEPS values today.
“We established the David H. Wilks Award as a way to honor the legacy of our founding medical director,” Lee Ann Miller, assistant director of education at STEPS, said. “Dr. Wilks had an enormous impact in growing STEPS with high standards for teaching, learning and technology. The faculty who receive this award mirror his dedication to high quality health science education.”
This is the second year for the award. Winners are announced annually during Healthcare Simulation Week.
STEPS is a state-of-the-art center for experiential learning, simulation and patient safety. By providing a safe learning environment with fully responsive technology, students are safer and smarter before encountering patients in everyday and critical care situations.
Photo at Top: Ashleigh Barrickman, PharmD, BCACP, CTTS, receives the 2022 David H. Wilks Memorial Award for Excellence in Simulation from Dorian Williams. The award is presented annually by the WVU Health Sciences David and Jo Ann Shaw Center for Simulation Training and Education for Patient Safety (STEPS) during Healthcare Simulation Week.
-WVU-
sd/09/15/2022
