June President's message: SSH Accreditation helping set the standard > The Society for Simulation in Healthcare
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Hello, Colleagues!

I hope this message finds you safe and healthy.

We have a super, busy month (see below), including seeing SSH set another membership record with more than 5,100 members! But, I would like to focus largely on SSH Accreditation.

Specifically, I want to highlight SSH Accreditation’s vast (and growing) influence on our industry through its standards and resources. The results of which are tangible with 200 simulation programs now proudly claiming they have achieved SSH Accreditation!

More than a decade ago, I was in the role of VP of Quality and Risk and had a strong interest in regulatory items. At the time, SSH Past President Dr. KT Waxman was a classmate of mine and mentioned that they were looking for reviewers for SSH Accreditation.

I applied to be a site reviewer and had the opportunity to sit next to Dr. Bill Dunn (SSH Past President) on our first day of training. I was fairly new to SSH (circa 2008 or so), and SSH’s accreditation efforts had just started with a pilot headed by current SSH Secretary Janice Palaganas. I had such a great experience that I have been involved with SSH Accreditation ever since. The friendships I have developed through traveling with different teams have been priceless.

For those of you thinking about heading out on the accreditation journey, I commend you. It isn’t an easy trek, but it is very much worth the effort!

The Provisional route is a great way to start as it provides your organization an opportunity to do a thorough review of your simulation program. Many times, it has been through this outside assessment that programs receive invaluable additional support. For instance, one of the most common recommendations from a review is to increase staffing (FTEs) to provide the appropriate human capital to make a program a success. Start here for more information about Provisional SSH Accreditation and to get started with your Provisional Accreditation application.

If you are interested in having your Program become accredited, I strongly recommend checking out the standards posted on SSIH.org. We intentionally made them accessible to anyone. This intentional step is to illustrate SSH’s commitment in aiding the entire simulation field’s setting of standards. (Like we always say… once you have seen one simulation site of a program, you have seen one simulation program!) To see the Full Accreditation standards and review the application process, click here.

Also, don’t pass over the Companion Documents! Written by SSH Accreditation Program Reviewers, these documents were developed to help provide insight on the information that Programs can provide as evidence that they are meeting SSH Accreditation Standards. Companion Documents exist for both Full and Provisional Accreditation Standards. They can be found on both the Full and Provisional pages.

Finally, online Accreditation Courses also have been developed to help your program construct a plan to address your organization’s areas of strengths and weaknesses. The courses are designed to help you learn the components of the accreditation process and also help better examine where most programs struggle to achieve accreditation.

As I mentioned at the top, 200 programs have chosen SSH Accreditation. That includes 150 Fully Accredited programs from 16 countries (Brazil, Bahrain, China,  Canada, UAE, Kenya, Costa Rica, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia, the Netherlands, Singapore, Barbados, Turkey, and United States), and 50 provisionally accredited programs from eight countries (Chile, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Mexico, Pakistan, South Africa, and United States). 

And, as of May 15, the latest application submission deadline, SSH received an amazing 32 applications. Of those: 18 were for full accreditation (4 international), 13 for provisional (1 international), and 1 mid-cycle.

That's so exciting and encouraging! Now is a perfect time to learn more and/or begin your program’s path. Get started and help SSH achieve its next milestone – 300!

Elsewhere ...

It's time to UNIFY! SimOps and SimOps DELIVERS! is July 14-16 at the Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation, in Tampa, Florida. In addtion to being offered both in person and virtually, I'm extremely pleased and excited to see the theme's "UNIFY" direction as it speaks directly to pooling different backgrounds and talents in the name of advancing healthcare simulation. Per the event itself, you can get early bird pricing until June 9. Take advantage of that!

The SSH Education Department and SimOps Planning Committee have put together a stellar, timely pre-conference course and event program - one that dives right at the center of current needs in the OPS community. Very much worth your and your teammates' consideration. New this year, you can select which courses you would like to attend in advance and are able to edit your selections after your registration has been completed. Totally worth checking out!

And, please mark your calendar for the next virtual SSH Town Hall meeting, June 14, at 3 p.m. ET. I'll provide an update from the SSH Board of Directors and also focus on how programs/individuals are adjusting with the new academic year. We'll also provide an opportunity for breakout group discussion. The last virtual event provided great conversation, and I'm always glad to do my part in helping bring SSH information to you. You can join me and others on Zoom

How about all of that for June?!

Until next month …

Juli Maxworthy, DNP, PhD (c), MSN, MBA, RN, CNL, CPHQ, CPPS, CHSE, FNAP, FSSH
President, Society for Simulation in Healthcare

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