Petition for an ACEP Section of Membership

I, the undersigned, petition ACEP to establish a Simulation section for members interested in this practice option. 

The Board of Directors has established annual section dues at $40 per section for active members. Medical students, emergency medicine resident members and individuals in fellowship training programs receive free membership in the Young Physicians Section, may join another section of their choice for free and join additional sections for only $20 each.

I, the undersigned, realize that by filling out this form, I am indicating my intent to become a dues-paying member of the Simulation section in addition to my regular ACEP dues.

The ACEP Bylaws require 100 or more College members to petition the Board of Directors to form a section.
 

Prospective Section Objectives

To promote Simulation as one of the primary educational modalities for Emergency Medicine providers and medical students. To serve as one of the central organizations and education hub for Emergency Medicine providers interested in using Simulation as a tool to educate and to improve patient care within their departments. To support scientific investigation and discovery and to translate this research into refining Simulation for education, faculty/staff development, and patient care implications. To share Emergency Medicine Simulation-based initiatives to foster knowledge sharing and interdisciplinary education in order to offer a framework for others to develop their own Simulation program in their hospitals. To provide mentorship and sponsorship to those in training who seek to develop a niche within Simulation education. To provide ACEP with guidance regarding Simulation “best practices.”

 

Subject Area

The history of the specialty of Emergency Medicine is intertwined in teamwork and comradery within a department to treat patients during their most medically, socially, and emotionally vulnerable times. Simulation has developed into an educational tool to provide the most common to the most high stakes procedural, situational, and real-time training for all providers and staff.  Medical Simulation allows for immediate performance feedback through debriefing. For example, it has the ability to focus on teamwork, communication, situational learning, or procedural training. The fluidity and flexibility of Simulation allows for the delivery of multidisciplinary education to practice a variety of clinical situations and scenarios. It thrives on nurturing an emotionally and psychologically safe environment to maximize its educational impact. The goals of Simulation include but not limited to progressing staff skill sets, improving workflows, disseminating department-specific policies, and positively impacting patient care, safety, and experience. 

Furthering the College

The Simulation Section addresses the following ACEP objectives:

To establish guidelines for quality emergency medical care.

In order to provide the best possible emergency medical care, it is imperative that common and low occurrence emergency procedures and scenarios be practiced. It allows all providers and staff with both the least and most experience to benefit from Simulation education. It provides all Emergency Medicine staff who participate and opportunity for immediate feedback and constructive criticism. By allowing practice and education in a safe place provides the opportunity to refine practice for the next patient encounter. In practice, Simulation is an educational tool that is used a priori and a posteriori with notable improvements in patient care and outcomes which allow for the development of ‘best practices’ guidelines both on local, national, and international levels.  ^{2, 3, 4, 5, 12}

To encourage and facilitate the postgraduate training and continuing medical education of emergency physicians.

One of our pillars includes supporting the promotion and academic advancement of students, residents, and faculty through participation in scholarly activities, involvement in local, national, and international committees, and attainment of leadership positions within their hospitals and departments. The Simulation Section will endorse those physicians who desire integrating their passion for emergency medicine and education by bridging that gap using Simulation. In addition, Simulation has become an integral component to both medical student and postgraduate training. It allows students and residents to practice procedural and team-based interdisciplinary skills in the Simulation center and in the emergency department. Simulation achieves portions of ACGME’s Common Program Requirements and core competencies and allows assessment of resident milestones. ^{1, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10} Furthermore, the dynamic nature of Simulation provides attending physicians the opportunity for continuing medical education to practice and refine their procedural and communication skills. The use of Simulation allows physicians to remain up to date with the most current practices in Emergency Medicine.

To promote education in emergency care for all physicians.

The Section will develop and sponsor didactic content at the Scientific Assembly to promote Simulation education. The academic breadth of this Section will extend beyond ACEP’s Scientific Assembly. Its goal will be to promote research and didactic activity. It will incorporate and disseminate education and collaboration with other international and national Emergency Medicine organizations such as the Society for Simulation in Healthcare, Emergency Medicine Residents’ Association, and Society for Academic Emergency Medicine. Fostering not only Simulation-based Emergency Medicine education and inter-professional and inter-organizational collaboration will advance the field of Emergency Medicine. ^{7, 8, 11, 12}

To promote the development and coordination of quality emergency medical services and systems.

Emergency physicians continue to find ways to improve our care for our patients both within and outside of the doors of the emergency room. The Section will endorse and apply educational techniques that impact community and public health such as educating the public on CPR and primary disease prevention to using Simulation to improve departmental care. In order to function, Emergency Medicine requires collaboration from different subspecialties and disciplines in healthcare to facilitate patient care. Simulation education and its application to team-based training offer the ability to improve the coordination of emergency medical care within and outside of the emergency room. ^{11, 12}

To encourage emergency physicians to assume leadership roles in out-of-hospital care and disaster management.

The Simulation Section inherently supports academic and professional advancement through the use of Simulation as an educational tool. It gives physicians the opportunity to educate those in the pre-hospital setting on policies, procedures, recertification, and continuing education. For example, Simulation can focus on mass casualty incidents and disaster preparation in hospital systems and identify gaps in workflows. Simulation has the ability to link care between the ambulance and the department. By incorporating Simulation to their practice, physicians interested in advancing professionally in EMS/disaster medicine can apply these educational techniques to make their initiatives more robust. Ultimately, with a more robust program, the opportunity for career advancement and mentorship exists.

To evaluate the social and economic aspects of emergency medical care.

Simulation has the capability to examine costs savings and expenditures after implementing a specific educational objective. The breadth can range from improving costs and spending to improving hospital savings on preventing adverse outcomes within the hospitals. It is evident that using simulated workflow assessments and identifying educational deficiencies followed by intervention helps minimize future latent safety threats, near misses, or sentinel events.

To encourage and support basic and clinical research in emergency medicine.

As part of the section’s objectives, it is of utmost importance to support scholarly activity in the form of research. Research can range from educational theory to Simulation curriculum development and its impacts on care. We will provide mentorship and cultivate an environment and network where knowledge sharing and collaboration is essential to growing scholarly growth for our specialty of emergency medicine. The ultimate goal will be to produce research that improves education, interdisciplinary relationships, and patient care.

Proposed First Year Activities 

Develop collaborations with local, national, and international Simulation and emergency medicine based organizations to promote education and scholarly activity. Create Simulation courses for Emergency Medicine physicians. Share information regarding current Simulation education techniques and initiatives. Build relationships with other ACEP Sections to assist in their objectives. Initiate a Simulation mentorship program. Promote interdisciplinary-based Simulation programs with multi-disciplinary objectives.

 

1. Bond, W. & Spillane, L. 2008. The use of simulation for emergency medicine resident assessment. Acad  Emerg Med, 9(11): 1295-1299.
2. Bredmose, P., et al. 2010. Scenario based outdoor simulation in pre-hospital trauma care using a simple mannequin model. Scand J Trauma Resusc Emerg Med, 18(13).
3. Cohen, E., et al.2010. Cost savings from reduced catheter-related bloodstream infection after simulation-based education for residents in a medical intensive care unit. Simulation in Healthcare, 5(2): 98-102.
4. Connelly, L. & Bair, A. 2008. Discrete event simulation of emergency department activity: a platform for system‐level operations research. Acad  Emerg Med, 11(11): 1177-1185.
5. Duguay, C. & Chetouane, F. 2007. Modeling and improving emergency department systems using discrete event simulation. Simulation, 83(4): 311-320.
6. Kobayashi, L., et al. 2008. Educational and research implications of portable human patient simulation in acute care medicine. Acad Emerg Med,  15: 1166-1174.
7. Leonard, M., et al. 2004. The human factor: the critical importance of effective teamwork and communication in providing safe care. Qual Saf Health Care,13(1): i85-i90.
8. Lighthall, G., et al. 2010. Using in situ simulation to improve in-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf, 36: 209-216.
9. McLaughlin, S., et al. 2008. Human simulation in emergency medicine training: a model curriculum. Acad  Emerg Med, 9(11): 1310-1318.
10. Miller, K., et al. 2009. Identifying key nursing and team behaviours to achieve high reliability. J Nurs Manag; 17: 247-255.
11. Patterson, M., et al. 2012. In situ simulation: detection of safety threats and teamwork training in a high risk emergency department. BMJ Qual Saf, 22(6): 468-477.
12. Shapiro, M., et al. 2004. Simulation based teamwork training for emergency department staff: does it improve clinical team performance when added to an existing didactic teamwork curriculum? BMJ Qual Saf, 13(6): 417-421.

 

Jerome B. Balbin, MD