Definition

Simulation in healthcare education is a “technique, not a technology that replaces or amplifies real experiences with guided experiences that evoke or replicate substantial aspects of the real world in a fully interactive manner” (Gaba 2004). Simulation may include a range of technologies and educational contexts that include but are not limited to: simulated (standardised patients), simple and partial task trainers, full body patient mannequins, virtual reality, augmented reality, haptic, hybrid models, and simulated environments. An institution that has achieved excellence in healthcare simulation education ensures it is well-designed (embedded in appropriate educational theory), and integrated into the curriculum, uses it as an adjunct to patient or health systems care training and/or assessment experiences, and provides for outcome driven measures that are continuously evaluated for quality and improvement.

Scope

An applicant institution or organisation may have a single centralised simulation program or a decentralised series of simulation activities aimed at enhancing standards of teaching/education, faculty preparedness, and scholarship. These may include programs and activities for:

• teaching and assessing clinical and procedural skills;
• promoting critical thinking and problem-solving skills;
• fostering communication and teamwork;
• introducing and promoting interprofessional learning and practice;
• developing patient safety, healthcare systems, and/or cultural awareness;
• individualising (“precision”) care and public health;
• exploring healthcare systems science and practice.

Cultural, geographic, social, fiscal and other issues may influence how healthcare simulation education is delivered at an institution and will vary among institutions. Excellence may be identified and recognised in institutions with limited resources just as much as in “resource-rich” institutions. The way in which institutions demonstrate context appropriateness will be taken into account by the panel when reviewing each submission.

Application process

Applicants should describe the entire scope of the institution’s simulation programs in the application summary and specify whether the application will include the whole series of simulation programs or focus on a specific simulation program that prepares learners for clinical practice. The program(s) should include a focus on undergraduate and graduate entry healthcare education, but may also include those involving postgraduates and practicing clinicians. The school’s specified program(s) will constitute “the program of healthcare simulation” for the ASPIRE program application and be assessed using the criteria for excellence.