April Presidential Message > The Society for Simulation in Healthcare
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Hello, SSH Members:

Our current SSH President, KT Waxman, asked me to deliver the April Presidential Message – and I’m going to use this time to ask you to help me find more engagement opportunities in SSH!

You may be aware that we will celebrate the 20th anniversary of IMSH next January at IMSH 2020 in San Diego. All of us can and should be proud of our contributions to the growth of this event and our Society throughout the past two decades. As participants, volunteers, and leaders, you have been a major part of our success.

We are not done, though.

Back when I studied computer science in graduate school, I was completely humbled when I realized that the more I learned, the less I actually truly knew. There is just so much to learn and so many current and new ways to apply what you have learned. Things newly learned often first present themselves as problems, which in turn present opportunities. Personally, I live to find opportunities – opportunities to grow, to improve, and to excel.

Two valuable growth areas for the Society - aka opportunities - are the theory, design, and development of models and simulations in support of both patient care and research.

We expanded - just a bit - into these areas during the Research Symposium at IMSH 2017, the M&S Symposium at IMSH 2018, and through our selection of plenary speakers during IMSH 2019. I, and others, heard great feedback about the usefulness of these events and speakers, particularly how they expanded people's thinking beyond the opportunities typical to training and education.

That feedback suggests it might be time for the Society to create consistent opportunities to engage with model and simulation developers and researchers.

I recently attended the Multi Scale Modeling Consortium Meeting at the National Institute of Health. The Consortium is sponsored by the Interagency Modeling and Analysis Group (IMAG) (more here: https://goo.gl/wXAWZS). During this meeting, I was reminded of the vast ways that modeling and simulation are harnessed to impact healthcare – and the need for our Society to be regularly engaged.

Engagement starts with creating links to other organizations and activities, like IMAG. It begins with sharing knowledge and information. It continues with the expansion of topics and speakers at meetings, and the growth of Societal membership. It moves to advocation and mutual support at the local, national, and international levels. Ultimately, engagement will lead to well-informed Society members who contribute to improved patient outcomes.

 The Society serves as a strong advocate and source of expertise for simulation-based healthcare training and education. I posit that engaging with organizations and activities focused on the design and application of models and simulations in both the research and care delivery environments is a natural next step for our Society.

As is typical, the "devilish details" have to be sorted, but I believe it worth our time to pursue. Look for more on this topic as I progress through my presidential term. We will need your help!

Sincerely,

Bob Armstrong

SSH President-Elect

 

     

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