April Presidential Message > The Society for Simulation in Healthcare
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JoeApril 2018 message to membership

Happy Spring in the Northern Hemisphere and Happy Autumn to our members in the Southern part of the globe. Speaking of globe…….I wanted to devote this month’s column to discussing one of your Board of Directors Strategic Goals for the next 2 years: Advancing simulation in healthcare globally. Your Board has listened to input from our many members, committees and sections on this topic and has decided that this strategic goal can be accomplished in four distinct ways:

1.     Continue to promote accreditations and certifications internationally.  Our Society’s certification and accreditation programs have been very successful in many countries and we want to promote them as a means of professional and organization development. As I said in my Presidential Address to you in January, certification and accreditation are vehicles to improve your personal competence as a simulationist and demonstrate to leaders that you and your program adhere to standards of practice and conduct of the highest order. Your Society’s certification and accreditation councils have worked hard to provide you, our membership, with high quality benchmarks to show to leaders and regulators in healthcare.  As our number of certified individuals and accredited centers grows each year, its value become more important. If you have not yet taken the CHSE or CHSOS exam or considered your program for accreditation, please make the commitment to start in 2018!

 

2.     Promote membership in SSH to organizations and individuals from around the world. Your board, through the internal relations committee, will be promoting membership in our Society and the many benefits that accrue from membership. You can do your part as members since you are our best ambassadors in helping spread the word about who we are and why you belong. Being connected to a group of simulationists who have tried to solve their challenges can provide all of us with insights about how to approach the problems we face locally. The free sharing of ideas among our members is one of our strengths. Try logging on to SimConnect on the SSH website and see for yourself the power of group problem solving.

 

3.     Continue to work with other societies internationally to advance simulation in healthcare. Our external and strategic relations committee and its affiliates subcommittee is working hard to actively support peer and partner organizations around the world and promote collaborative projects that benefit the simulation community. Some recent successes in this area are the healthcare simulation dictionary and the development of a global code of ethics for simulation practice. It is through our relationships and partnerships with other societies that we can move forward as a profession and help improve the quality of patient care together.

 

4.     Promote the use of simulation in countries around the world where it is underutilized today. There are many parts of the world where simulation is still in its infancy and struggling to be relevant to the healthcare delivery and education system. Your board will be looking for opportunities to collaborate with global partners to develop products and services to assist with outreach (e.g. donation of expertise, equipment, training etc.) and support their efforts to spread simulation methodologies. This may include scholarships to target individuals from under-resourced areas and assistance in attending IMSH and related events.

 

Your Society wants to be a part of the expansion of healthcare simulation and education wherever it can be helpful. We seek collaboration, mutual respect and a willingness to elevate our profession within the healthcare education and delivery system.  We want to encourage the development of simulation around the world for the benefit it can bring to patient care and patient wellbeing.  Won’t you help us in this quest? 

Joe Lopreiato, MD, MPH, CHSE, CHSE-A
Bethesda, MD

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