President's Newsletter
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President’s Update with Chad Epps, MD 

Current events highlight the pivotal point we find ourselves at regarding awareness of patient safety and the importance of healthcare simulation. 

According to news reports, the Orlando Regional Medical Center treated dozens of people in the wake of the tragic shooting -- most of whom were expected to recover. The hospital attributed its weekly trauma simulations as a factor in being prepared for this unfortunate event.  

Our mission as a Society continues to focus on advancing the field of simulation in healthcare and raising awareness of our ultimate objective: patient safety. 

I'd like to share with you some of SSH’s recent highlights in advancing the field of healthcare simulation.   

  • The first edition of the Healthcare Simulation Dictionary has been released and is free to download. By defining our terms, and clarifying their use in healthcare simulation specifically, we are -- in a larger context -- also defining our specialty. Every medical specialty and sub-specialty has its own vernacular, and our hope is that by establishing these terms in a healthcare simulation setting, we will create a universally understood language for our field.  

    I would like to thank and acknowledge Andrew Spain, MA, NCEE, EMT-PSSH’s Director of Accreditation and Certification, and Dr. Joseph Lopreiato of the Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, MD for their dedication to this project. In addition to their leadership, 70 subject matter experts and 18 healthcare societies globally contributed content and assisted with compiling the dictionary which has been three years in the making. 

The dictionary is not considered a static document – it will be reviewed annually and updated as needed.   Please provide feedback or suggestions regarding the dictionary through this form.  

  • Our peer-reviewed journal, Simulation in Healthcare continues to present breaking and informative studies that showcase developments in our field. As we thank our outgoing editor Dr. David Gaba for his remarkable tenure, I am pleased to welcome, on behalf of the entire Society, Dr. Mark Scerbo as our new editor-in-chief.
  • The Task Force on INACSL/SSH co-sponsored workshops led by Bonnie Driggers and Andy Ackerman is working hard to plan for and develop these exciting opportunities to highlight best practices/standards in the field of healthcare simulation.  These workshops will be affordable one-day experiences that are regionally accessible.  The business plan for these workshops was recently approved by the Boards of both Societies and we anticipate the first workshop to be held this fall in New York.
  • SSH accredited programs continue to grow. Congratulations to the most recently accredited programs: Health Science Simulation Center at Casper College (accredited in teaching/education) in Casper, Wyoming; Center for Disaster Relief Training and Research (accredited in assessment, research, teaching, and systems integration) in Seoul, Korea;, and the Clinical Simulation Center (accredited in assessment, research, teaching, and systems integration) at Yonsei University College of Medicine in in Seoul, Korea.
  • There are multiple affinity groups currently being formed at the request of SSH members.  Participation in interest groups are a frequently cited value of SSH membership.  Affinity groups currently in development include:
- Simulation Administrators Affinity Group
- Patient Safety Affinity Group
- Dental Simulation Affinity Group
        - Federal Medical Simulation Training Consortium Affinity Group
- Super-Sized Simulation Centers Affinity Group

If you would like additional information or are interested in participating in one of these affinity groups in development please contact Ashley Grossman, Membership Coordinator, at agrossman@ssih.org.

For additional information on all available SSH interest groups and how to join, please visit http://www.ssih.org/Interest-Groups.

We hope to see you at SimOps later this month and at future SSH events. And please continue adding your voice to the lively discussions that take place on SimConnect, your members-only online platform, and on our Facebook and Twitter pages. 

Chad Epps, MD
SSH President 2016