Anesthesiology National CME Program and ASA Activities in Simulation

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anclin.2007.03.012Get rights and content

This article traces the history of anesthesiology's role in simulation from Resusci Anne and Sim One to the use of simulation today for introducing new products and techniques to otherwise fully trained, practicing physicians. The article also describes the latest efforts of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) to promote simulation-based instruction. The article focuses in particular on the activities of the ASA Committee on Simulation Education. Many predict that simulation-based teaching will generate the next revolution in health care education. The ASA is hoping to capitalize on anesthesiology's long involvement and leadership in simulation-based health care education to help bring about this revolution.

Section snippets

ASA workgroup on simulation education headed by Michael A. Olympio

Simulation became a regular topic at meetings of the Society for Education in Anesthesia (SEA) and the Society for Technology in Anesthesia (STA) by the late 1990s. In 2002, at a meeting in Orlando Florida, the ASA held its first full-scale simulation-based workshop. In 2004, the ASA formally began the process of delineating opportunities for anesthesiologists to obtain quality continuing medical education (CME) credit in a simulation-based environment by creating an ad-hoc Workgroup on

ASA Committee on Simulation Education headed by Randy Steadman

At the 2006 meeting of the ASA in Chicago, the ASA House of Delegates formally sanctioned the formation of the new ASA Committee on Simulation Education, based on the recommendation of the ASA Workgroup on Simulation Education. Randy Steadman was appointed chair of this new committee. Members were appointed from a list of qualified volunteers to serve as part of the committee assigned to initiate ASA-endorsed courses throughout the United States (see Table 1). To ensure that endorsed programs

Related and concurrent events

Several other groups and organizations are also engaged in developing simulation-based education and assessment. Spawned from simulation interest groups within anesthesiology, the Society for Simulation in Healthcare has evolved into a multidisciplinary, multispecialty, international organization dedicated to the advancement of all types of simulation-based education and advances in health care [32]. Another group, Advanced Initiatives in Medical Simulation, has taken on the task of lobbying

Summary

With simulation-based education expanding at a rapid, almost frenetic pace, it is difficult to predict the future of such education. Ultimately, the underlying purpose is to approach learning and testing in an environment that is similar to actual practice. It is hoped that this approach will more accurately guide and predict behavior in actual practice, but this has not actually been proven. Demonstrating that one can perform well in a simulated environment does not guarantee that one will

References (37)

  • S. Abrahamson et al.

    Effectiveness of a simulator in training anesthesiology residents. 1969

    Qual Saf Health Care

    (2004)
  • J.S. Denson et al.

    A computer-controlled patient simulator

    JAMA

    (1969)
  • Abrahamson S, Denson JS, Clark AP, et al. Anesthesiological training simulator. Edited by Office US Patent Office. USA;...
  • D. Doyle et al.

    The virtual anesthesiology training simulation system

    Can J Anaesth

    (1995)
  • D.M. Gaba et al.

    A comprehensive anesthesia simulation environment: re-creating the operating room for research and training

    Anesthesiology

    (1988)
  • D.M. Gaba

    Human error in anesthetic mishaps

    Int Anesthesiol Clin

    (1989)
  • S.K. Howard et al.

    Anesthesia Crisis Resource Management Training: teaching anesthesiologists to handle critical incidents

    Aviat Space Environ Med

    (1992)
  • H.A. Schwid et al.

    The Anesthesia Simulator-Recorder: a device to train and evaluate anesthesiologists' responses to critical incidents

    Anesthesiology

    (1990)
  • Cited by (25)

    • Use of High-Fidelity Simulation to Increase Knowledge and Skills in Caring for Patients Receiving Blood Products

      2017, Critical Care Nursing Clinics of North America
      Citation Excerpt :

      It was not until the second half of the twentieth century that medicine began using simulation.2 Anesthesiology was the first area of medicine to embark on the use of clinical simulation.5 Working with anesthetists, Laerdal developed the Resusci-Anne, a basic simulator that is still used today.

    • Simulation for Maintenance of Certification

      2015, Surgical Clinics of North America
      Citation Excerpt :

      Matching the equipment and the environment to both the learners and the educational goals and objectives is critical. Expensive equipment and elaborate programs are not always the correct solution.26 The advantages of simulation-based experiences are that the educators can choose the appropriate simulators and educational techniques to create a realistic, predictable, standardized, safe, and reproducible clinical environment.

    • Simulation-based Maintenance of Certification in Anesthesiology (MOCA) course optimization: Use of multi-modality educational activities

      2012, Journal of Clinical Anesthesia
      Citation Excerpt :

      As such, medical specialties have adopted simulation courses at varying rates. Anesthesiology has long been at the forefront of simulation technology, but only recently have the ASA and ABA sanctioned its use for high-stakes programs such as MOCA [14]. At the moment, individual skill assessments are not a part of MOCA; however, the Israeli experience tells us that the use of simulation for this task is feasible and currently being conducted [15,16].

    • The use of multi-modality simulation in the retraining of the physician for medical licensure

      2010, Journal of Clinical Anesthesia
      Citation Excerpt :

      The role of full-scale simulation in competency evaluations is arguably in its infancy but may represent the next generation of medical training and assessment [13].

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text