Healthcare educators and practitioners seeking guidelines, best practices, and recommendations for creating and managing cost-effective, researched-based simulation education and training programs now have a world class road map in the new textbook Defining Excellence in Simulation Programs.
The timely compendium—created and published by the Society for Simulation in Healthcare (SSH) in support of its mission to encourage excellence in healthcare education, practice and research through the use of simulation—features the contributions of nearly 140 expert clinicians and educators. The interprofessional group of authors and the editors—Janice C. Palaganas, PhD, RN; Juli C. Maxworthy, DNP, RN; Chad A. Epps, MD; and Mary Elizabeth "Beth" Mancini, PhD, RN—offer diverse perspectives from areas of nursing, medicine, allied health, numerous specialties, and non-clinical fields including organizational behavior, psychology, statistics, business, and engineering.
The well-referenced, reader-friendly content is based on actual programs around the world that have proven to be sustainable, cost-effective, and successful, offering practical, clear-cut definitions, recommendations, and best practices for all types of simulation training programs. Editor Palaganas notes, "With every simulation program we have visited in SSH Accreditation, we have noticed common areas for improvement, as well as programs that, if their efforts were shared, could help other programs in their success. We wanted to create a resource for every program to have on their shelf to help guide them in their development as needed—new centers, existing centers, new simulation educators, and experienced simulation educators alike."
The textbook's wide range of topics include simulation standards, types of programs, simulators, funding, management, environmental design, educational development, faculty development, and research. Special sections include "Terms of Reference" (simulation terms and concepts defined and standardized); "Experts Corner" (expert commentaries on particular areas of training, research, and program development); and "Consider This" (practical how-to sections on important related topics).
Andrew Spain, SSH Director of Accreditation and Certification, describes Defining Excellence in Simulation Programs as "…an extraordinarily comprehensive book that is focused on helping individuals to understand what it takes to run a high-quality simulation program." Spain cites the special sections as bringing added value to the textbook.
SSH President Dr. Pamela Jeffries joins Spain in applauding the work of the authors and editors, noting that their end-product is "an essential guide for healthcare managers, educators, and researchers. It's basically a one-stop-shop for simulation, a realistic and achievable blueprint for creating or managing successful, cost-effective, researched-based simulation programs."
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