SPOTLIGHT ON JILL STEINER SANKO

Jill Steiner Sanko is a PhD prepared nurse scientist.  Currently she is an assistant professor and the Academic and Research Director of Simulation at the University of Miami School of Nursing and Health Studies.  Her areas of interest include patient safety, the use of simulation in education and research, and team dynamics.  

She was a Research and Simulation Education Specialist at the Center for Patient Safety until May of 2012. As part of her role there, she was involved in teaching teamwork and communication skills, invasive bedside procedures, and other high-risk low- frequency clinical skills to a variety of healthcare providers, and medical and nursing students.  Prior to moving back to Miami, she was the founding Associate Director of the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center Simulation and Patient Safety Program.  In addition to assisting in running the Simulation and Patient Safety Program at the NIH she also led and conducted clinical research trials, as an associate PI alongside leading researchers in the areas of cardiology, and critical care.  

Jill also was also a member of the core group educators at the center who conduct a one day simulation training course as part of Maintenance of Certification (MOCA) for practicing anesthesiologists. This course meets the simulation training requirement for Part IV of MOCA.  She was and continues to be a key faculty in the Annual IPE patient safety course that occurs at the University of Miami.  In addition to teaching she was also involved in many research endeavors at the Center for Patient Safety as a co-investigator on many research projects. 

Jill is has been active in SSH, first as a co-chair of the nursing SIG, and later as the 2011-2013 Chair of the Membership Committee. She has also served on the research committee, was integral in bringing the immersive track at IMSH to life, and part of the Scientific Contents Committee for IMSH 2013, 2014 and 2015, most recently as the co-chair of the program innovation track.   Currently she is a Nursing Section Liaison and a site reviewer for accreditation.  She is one of only few simulationists who is a Certified Healthcare Simulation Educator-Advanced (CHSE-A) worldwide.  

On a more local level she is an active member of the Florida Healthcare Simulation Alliance and is currently serving on the planning committee for the first annual “Excellence in Simulation” conference which will bring together simulation alliances from the Southeastern U.S.  She is the co-chair of the University of Miami School of Nursing and Health Studies Patient Safety Committee, a member of Sigma Theta Tau, and a member of the University of Miami Simulation-Based Inter-professional Education Task Force.  

She is a graduate of University of Florida where she earned her BA in Anthropology, Rush University where she earned her BS in nursing, University of Maryland where she earned a MS in nursing, and University of Miami where she completed her PhD.  She is a board certified Acute Care Nurse Practitioner.