In surgery, as in anything else, skill and confidence are learned through experience...like the tennis player and the oboist and the guy who fixes hard drives, we need practice to get good at what we do.
- Atul Gawande, "Complications"
In recent years, medical institutions have increasingly turned to simulation as an effective way to enhance patient safety and improve clinical outcomes.
As with the aviation industry, which has long used flight simulators to enhance pilot performance and safety, hospitals and medical practices have increasingly made simulation an integral component of professional education.
Medical simulation offers clinicians the opportunity for hands-on experience without putting patients or themselves at risk. By replicating real-life medical situations in settings that resemble where they actually practice, simulation enables providers to:
- Familiarize themselves with instruments and equipment
- Improve competency with procedures
- Gain exposure to relatively infrequent clinical conditions
- Prepare for complex clinical situations
- Learn team-based decision-making skills
- Practice technical and non-technical skills
Using simulators and equipment that mimic real clinical settings, as well as advanced equipment to support digital recording of scenarios for future access and review, we can provide a safe environment to test and evaluate new procedures before implementing them in the hospital.