Steve Dawson

MD, Massachusetts General Hospital, CIMIT

 

“The Missing Links:  What the Simulation Industry Needs from Academia”

 

In its 1999 report, “To Err is Human”, the Institute of Medicine explicitly challenged the medical and engineering communities by stating that medical simulation should be developed as a means of reducing medical errors.  This moment of opportunity has arrived at a critical juncture for medical simulation.  Until recently, simulation development was driven by producers who used the best available technologies to produce technical devices that purported to teach appropriate medical techniques.

 

Essential elements of realism, authenticity and validation must be present before organized medicine will accept a fundamental change in the methods of medical training which have been in place for 4000 years. However, proof of transferable learning through simulation has been slow to arrive, in large part because elements recognized by physicians as essential to learning have been lacking in available simulators.  While skills trainers may teach better hand-eye coordination, judgment and decision making have not been tested, because realistic simulators have not been validated.  The challenge facing simulation is how to move from what industry has so far produced to a level of authenticity which will receive the imprimatur of governing authorities, such as medical specialty boards.

 

The CIMIT simulation program was funded to address key elements of this essential infrastructure science.  As the CIMIT program evolves, we will team with other major academic research centers to leverage existing programs into a national collaboration.  We must initiate an intelligent national research agenda to address the challenge given to us by the Institute of Medicine.