Priorities Related to Improving Healthcare Safety Through Simulation

Abstract

Improving healthcare safety is a worthwhile and important endeavor. Simulation-based activities can help with such a goal through research and training. In this manner, it can focus on education and training, assessment and metrics, process improvement, and culture change to help move forward both patient safety and quality of care.This article will address the following three main topics: (1) designing simulation-based activities to promote high reliability in healthcare, (2) developing simulation-based activities to foster resilience in healthcare systems, and (3) evaluating the impact of adverse events in healthcare and how simulation-based activities can be used to determine and potentially to prevent their cause. These topics will be treated sequentially, providing synopses of concepts and giving examples of research currently being undertaken. It will then highlight current priorities for simulation-based research in this domain by drawing from insights obtained and a targeted literature review.