The simulated newsroom
A novel educational innovation to teach advocacy skills to resident physicians
Built on Kern's six-step framework, the simulated newsroom ran as two workshops in which participants acted as journalists and an emergency physician with journalism training acted as news editor.
How it worked
Workshop one covered news judgment: analysing model pitches for newsworthiness, prioritising them, then debating modes of storytelling in a simulated editorial meeting to set a news schedule. Participants then wrote and presented their own pitches.
Two weeks to draft an article, followed by workshop two — peer and facilitator review against the curriculum for structure and quality of argument, then two further weeks to finalise, with expert consultation available by email.
What we found
An open call to emergency medicine residents at two universities drew twelve registrants; six attended both sessions, all six joined the focus group, and four submitted written work on topics including dementia care, primary care wait times, and addictions policy. Participants reported greater confidence in advocacy through the popular press and felt better prepared to speak with journalists. Four themes emerged: scalability, engagement as future health advocates, personal bias and topic selection, and barriers to advocacy — with fear of institutional and peer backlash the most prominent barrier. Participants valued the workshop specifically as a voluntary offering.
Citation Bigham BL, Lavelle C, Hulme J, Hayman K. The simulated newsroom: a novel educational innovation to teach advocacy skills to resident physicians. AEM Educ Train. 2022;6(4):e10790. doi:10.1002/aet2.10790