At the November 2007 Simulation Summit in Chicago, the Society for Simulation in Healthcare (SSH) was asked to organize a coalition of educational leaders to serve as the “think tank” for future simulation initiatives. As a result, the idea for a “Simulation Alliance” was formed. The Simulation Alliance is a community of professional societies, organizations and associations whose mission is to collaborate, share and disseminate resources to support and further develop simulation-based education and assessment. To begin the process of establishing the Simulation Alliance, a Task Force planning group was created. The Task Force will establish the processes, develop the bylaws, and set the infrastructure to sustain this new organization.
Specific examples of what the Simulation Alliance could do are:
The Simulation Alliance represents professional societies and organizations, such as the American Association of Medical Colleges and the Association of Standardized Patient Educators. The Society for Simulation in Healthcare is a professional society that is a member of the Simulation Alliance. SSH represents individual members; anyone can join SSH but only organizations can join the Simulation Alliance. The products and services that the Simulation Alliance generates and provides can be disseminated to the members of each professional society or organization via that organization’s leadership.
The Society for Simulation in Healthcare is currently assisting by providing staff support, meeting venues, conference call and website resources and general advice. This Task Force gathers information from all the members of the Alliance and generates.
The Simulation Alliance is member-driven and led by representatives from the different organizations that join this group. Coordination currently comes from the Simulation Alliance Task Force, a subset of 10 active members who volunteer to serve as facilitators of working sub-committees (which any member can participate in). The Task Force will establish the processes, develop the bylaws, and set the infrastructure to sustain this new organization. The Task Force is chaired by a neutral individual who had previously served as the Chair of the SSH Education Committee. The list of Task Force members can be found here (insert link to list of SATF members). The Task Force seeks input from all members and generates draft documents which then are circulated back to the members for review and approval. All processes and products undergo rigorous review by the members to ensure that we have broad representation and wide-spectrum benefits. Once these processes and bylaws are approved by the members, a formal leadership group will facilitate the organization.
Professional societies, organizations and associations can join the Simulation Alliance. Each organization can designate up to two representatives to represent that organization in the Simulation Alliance. This individual will serve as their liaison to the Simulation Alliance, help provide information related to that organization’s needs and standing on a particular topic, and report back to their respective organizations to disseminate information that the Simulation Alliance generates.
The Simulation Alliance is for professional societies, organizations and associations, not for individual membership or for simulation centers or academic institutions. Individuals can join the Society for Simulation in Healthcare. SSH is a member of the Simulation Alliance. Individuals are also represented by clinical specialty societies or staff development organizations such as the American College of Chest Physicians or National Staff Development Organization.
Membership is reserved for professional societies, organizations and associations and their designated representatives.
We are working with the Industry Alliance Group, which is an SSH committee that vendors can join. The Industry Alliance Group will represent all vendors. Individual vendors, just like individual practitioners are not allowed membership in the Simulation Alliance.
A directory list of members can be found at here.
Currently there is no fee to join the Simulation Alliance. We are seeking grant funding to support meetings and online work. Organizations that join will need to commit travel funds for their representatives to attend conferences. In the future as this group grows, there will be a membership fee per organization to provide administrative support to sustain the developing projects and organizational infrastructure. Currently, SSH is providing resources but it is expected that the Simulation Alliance become a self-sustaining organization by 2015.
The Simulation Alliance is open to all professional organizations that have an interest in simulation-based education and training. Membership in this group allows organizations to connect with other organizations that are developing simulation-based education and assessment tools and projects. It is a community where ideas can be shared and discussed, common questions and challengers can be vetted, and consensus can to be reached so that ultimately the end-products will be useful to everyone. We function at the organizational level so the products that come out from this group will have the support and endorsement of multiple organizations, and there will be a consistent and systematic way to disseminate the information to the individual practitioners and institutions. Members have access to survey results and a library of shared tools and ideas. We welcome your input and look forward to working with you!
Interested organizations can send an email to admin@ssih.org. A survey will be sent out for completion so that the organization’s general information will be added to our directory and their representatives will be added to our contact list and discussion forums.