Greetings everyone,
October is now well underway and IMSH 2027 continues to draw closer. This year, we had a new record of content submissions - a testament to the rapid growth our community of practice continues to experience and a strong indicator of the educational value of our next meeting.
Healthcare Simulation Week was also a tremendous success as, all around the world, simulationists shared stories of how simulation found them. Our Dollar-for-Dollar matching campaign shared in that momentum and has brought us closer than ever before to having a sustainable fund that can be used to promote growth, energize innovation, and support our member’s needs far into the future.
Emergency Nurses Week
This month we celebrate Emergency Nurses week. Emergency nurses operate in one of medicine's most high-stakes environments: a place where time is of the essence, resource constraints are the norm, and hesitation can cost lives.
As an acute care provider (in my case a pediatric intensivist) I have felt similar pressures, and I personally know the strain that those who practice in these environments can experience. I also know the power of simulation training to relieve that strain.
Simulation provides an opportunity that no other educational approach can, the opportunity to fail safely, to make a wrong choice, and explore the outcomes that proceed from that choice in an environment that is risk free both to the patient and the provider. Indeed, even using words like “fail” and “wrong” seem inadequate given what simulation can achieve. After all, if a mistake in a simulation leads to the right action during patient care, that’s not a failure, that’s a success. In acute care environments, providing simulation training is not just one educational option among many but is instead a moral commitment to the people who provide care and to the patients who receive it.
To all those nurses working in emergency and acute care environments, and to all those simulationists who work tirelessly to train them so that they can be ready when they are needed, I thank you! Your work is vital and truly makes a difference.
Aaron Calhoun, MD, FSSH
SSH President, 2026-27