Adam I. Levine, Samuel DeMariaJr., Andrew D. Schwartz and Alan J. Sim (eds.)The Comprehensive Textbook of Healthcare Simulation10.1007/978-1-4614-5993-4_49
© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013
49. A Future Vision
(1)
Departments of Anesthesiology, Otolaryngology, and Structural and Chemical Biology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
(2)
Department of Anesthesiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
Abstract
Nearly a decade ago many echoed David Gaba’s predictions about the future of healthcare simulation: it would either be embraced, embedded, and extensively applied, or it would fail to meet expectations or improve patient outcomes and fall into obscurity. Today it is clear which path simulation has taken (even this textbook is a testament to that), and we ask now, just how far and how widely healthcare simulation will spread and what its real impact will be. As editors, it has become apparent, having read each chapter in this book, that the application of simulation in the healthcare industry is limitless, and therefore, its impact cannot be overstated. With the assistance of many of the authors of this text, we frame this brief chapter as a future vision of simulation, contemplating the extent to which simulation will grow.
Keywords
SimulationHealthcareHealthcare educationHealthcare technologyFutureHealthcare assessmentPatient careNearly a decade ago many echoed David Gaba’s predictions about the future of healthcare simulation: it would either be embraced, embedded, and extensively applied, or it would fail to meet expectations or improve patient outcomes and fall into obscurity. 1 Today it is clear which path simulation has taken (even this textbook is a testament to that), and we ask now, just how far and how widely healthcare simulation will spread and what its real impact will be. As editors, it has become apparent, having read each chapter in this book, that the application of simulation in the healthcare industry is limitless, and therefore, its impact cannot be overstated. With the assistance of many of the authors of this text, we frame this brief chapter as a future vision of simulation, contemplating the extent to which simulation will grow.
Simulation Saves Healthcare
With the next century comes tremendous change in healthcare education and delivery, and the impact of simulation will be widespread, transformative and will ultimately lead to the perseveration of this threatened industry. For this to occur, however, several phenomena will first take place.
Simulation Becomes Ubiquitous in Healthcare Education
Several confluent events occur during the early part of the twenty-first century that lead to an exponential proliferation of simulation-based education throughout healthcare. It is more widely determined and accepted that medical errors, patient harm, and poor patient outcomes can be traced back to inadequacies in healthcare education. Public outcry and outside political and financial forces demand that healthcare education becomes more accountable (much of this has already occurred). This gives rise to a healthcare educational system that is heavily regulated and where performance measures and outcomes are publically reported. Schools with graduates demonstrating persistently substandard performance become vulnerable to scrutiny and risk their accreditation, funding, and research opportunities. Mandated to stem the tide of error and patient harm, a paradigm shift in healthcare education is sought where fundamentals of teamwork, communication, and crisis resource management are introduced very early in practitioners’ education.
“Team-based training utilizing simulation scenarios will expand to improve communication and teamwork in hospital settings. Medical students and residents will be expected to train with nursing students, physician assistants, pharmacists, and other health professional students. This training should lead to advances in patient safety and improve error recognition.”—Paul E. Ogden, MD, Courtney West, PhD, Lori Graham, PhD, Curtis Mirkes, DO, Colleen Y. Colbert, PhD
“There is no question to me that if we expect individual healthcare providers to work together effectively in interprofessional teams, we need to start training them together at all stages of education, from undergraduate training all the way through to continuing professional development. The last 20–30 years have seen us struggle with how to make this type of interprofessional training work…simulation will be the answer!”—Vincent Grant, MD, FRCPC
“Simulation will evolve into more centralized centers to co-locate with learners in clinical spaces throughout health centers to allow for more frequent and multi-disciplinary training.”
—James M. Cooke, MD
At the same time, older healthcare educators retire and are replaced with a new generation of innovative faculty. The longstanding barriers and opposition to the use of simulation for healthcare education dissipate as the “old guard” disappears from the workforce. Young educators, who have experienced firsthand the virtue of simulation-based education, start to enthusiastically and creatively incorporate simulation throughout healthcare curricula in order to meet head-on the societal call for safer healthcare and a better healthcare workforce.
“Simulation will be recognized as a new approach to education, rather than a progression of technology.”
—Mike Smith, MD, F.A.C.E.P.
Simulation becomes entrenched in the educational spectrum including allied health, nursing, dental, and medical arenas. The use of simulation becomes the standard by which healthcare professionals are educated to become master clinicians throughout their careers. The use of simulation is then recognized as critical for the assurance and development of healthcare providers who possess a superior and consistent body of knowledge and skills.
“Simulation will become an educational tool that is so ingrained into education that it is simply another tool that all educators use. The role of the dedicated simulation center and simulation “specialists” will wane as simulation becomes ubiquitous.”
—Paula Craigo, MD and Laurence Torsher, MD
“Simulation techniques will spread further into clinical arenas, to allow for more frequent exposure of each learner with lower cost and thereby impact education and culture more broadly.”
—Sara Goldhaber-Fiebert, MD
“In the future, healthcare simulation will be fully integrated into training, both initial and continuing, for all providers across a continuum.”
—Marjorie Lee White, MD, MPPM, MEd
“Patient-dentist communication will become more critical and the virtual worlds will play an important role in training dental health care providers….emphasis on inter professional education will allow more opportunities for the oral health care provider to utilize the human simulator as part of the health care team.”Related posts:
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