18 April 2013
Health Workforce Australia (HWA) is undertaking the ‘Certification of Simulation Educators and Accreditation of Simulation Programs’ project (the Project) to develop and implement accreditation processes for Australian simulation programs in the healthcare sector, and a certification process for simulation educators working in the healthcare sector. The development of a set of models for both accreditation and certification will contribute to improving patient safety and outcomes through assessment, research, advocacy and education, while using simulation technologies and methodologies.
The project is being conducted in two phases. The first phase is consultative in nature, intending to identify, understand and document the major issues and stakeholders that might impact an accreditation and certification model. This phase is being undertaken by ASSH (Health division of Simulation Australia) and its subcontractors the South Melbourne Simulation Collaborative. This collaborative is being led by Raven Consulting Group and includes the Australian Centre for Health Innovation and Monash Simulation. Pending the outcomes of Phase 1, the second phase will focus on implementing an accreditation and certification process for simulation programs and educators respectively in the Australian healthcare setting.
It is expected that accreditation of SLE programs will involve:
It is expected that certification of SLE educators will involve:
Through three consultation activities across Australia – Survey of simulation stakeholders (May); Focus groups of representative stakeholders (June); and Site visits of representative simulation programs (July) – the South Melbourne Simulation Collaborative, on behalf of Simulation Australia, aims to uncover some of the relevant activities that could contribute to accreditation and/or certification and how they could be appropriately recorded and measured. The final project outcomes are due for delivery to HWA in September 2013.
If you would like additional information regarding the project, please contact Dr Richard Huysmans, Project Director smsc@ravencg.com.au. As the project progresses, requests for participation in consultation activities will be distributed through this newsletter (as well as other databases and mailing lists). Details regarding the project progress will also be available on HWA’s SimNET website (www.simnet.net.au).