Simulation in education for health care professionals

Simulation-based training has had positive impacts on safety and efficiency in a number of industries, including aviation, and is now being applied to education for health care professionals. Simulation can involve a person, a device, or set of conditions, and permits repetitive practice of skills to a prescribed level of proficiency in a risk-free environment. The debriefing step at the conclusion of any simulation activity allows trainees to clarify and consolidate the insights and lessons learned from the experience. As well as task training, skills training, and procedure training, simulation can be used to provide error-response and group training for the high-reliability teams working in the operating room, emergency room, and intensive care unit. Globally, simulation is fast being incorporated into professional assessment and programs for maintenance of certification. Such programs may become more efficient with the use of crowdsourcing to evaluate video-recorded performance of procedures. Next steps may be to link assessments from performance evaluation systems that rely on crowdsourcing to clinical outcomes, and to use these systems to evaluate nontechnical skills such as communication for health care professionals and teams. In BC the Provincial Simulation Coordination Committee works with health authorities and postsecondary institutions to advance the development of simulation education through an integrated approach that improves access to facilities, technologies, and resources.