First Annual Innovations in Simulation Summit Hosted At Columbia Nursing

This past October, the Columbia University School of Nursing hosted its first annual Innovations in Simulation Summit where they brought together 14 simulation specialists to exchange and discuss best practices in the field of clinical simulation education, examining its future, research trends, and how it can be used to improve patient safety.

Participants attended from around the world, representing a range of nursing and medical disciplines, including deans, directors of simulation centers, and researchers. The participants were grouped into three panels by topic: the future of simulation-based education, latest trends in simulation research, and patient safety outcomes. Four of five experts then presented on each topic.

Stephen Ferrara, DNP, assistant professor and associate dean of clinical affairs, tells Nursing.Columbia.edu, “This interprofessional summit is like a brain trust of simulation. Every one of you has helped advance the frontiers of healthcare simulation, which continues to enhance how we train future and current practitioners to provide the best care.”

The goal of simulation is to give students and healthcare professionals opportunities to practice skills without risking harm to patients and to hone their ability to think critically on their feet. Participants agreed that simulation has gone beyond its original purpose of just teaching basic skills to nursing and medical students. They observed that simulation is now used in healthcare systems as part of staff development, entailing scenarios designed to promote skills maintenance, harm reduction, and better staff integration.

A highlight of the summit was a tour of Columbia Nursing’s Helene Fuld Health Trust Simulation Center. Opened in the autumn of 2017, the center consists of multiple rooms on two floors of the school including a simulated labor and delivery suite, an operating room, and beds equipped as they would be in typical hospital rooms, with vital sign displays and electronic medical records.