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ASA NEWSLETTER Articles
Michael A. Olympio, M.D. |
September 2005
Innovation and the Future in Continuing Medical Education
The Committee on Outreach Education has an important educational charge: to investigate the needs of the membership for future educational offerings. With the ASA Annual Meeting as its continuing medical education (CME) cornerstone, our Society has a rich heritage of excellence in CME. We have a commitment, though, to be proactive and innovative regarding future CME needs.
The market for traditional CME offerings is saturated with few content gaps. In the recent past, we have had variable success with our Regional Refresher Courses and Workshops. Over the past several years, however, a mandate for CME in transesophageal echocardiography has been met with the excellent workshops organized by Robert M. Savage, M.D.
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ASA NEWSLETTER Articles
January 2006
‘Simulation Saturday’ on March 11 to Introduce a New ASA-Sponsored Educational Opportunity
High-fidelity medical simulation has become an important part of graduate medical education around the globe. Medical simulators make it possible to practice the management of both common clinical problems and rare, but potentially fatal critical events such as malignant hyperthermia.
Traditionally simulation education in anesthesia has been limited to training programs at medical schools and teaching hospitals. As a result, many anesthesiologists in clinical practice have not yet experienced this valuable training experience. In order to introduce ASA members to simulator education, ASA, in cooperation with simulator centers around the country, has developed a “Simulator Saturday” that will occur on March 11, 2006.
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ASA NEWSLETTER Articles
May 2006
Simulator-Based Education: The Future of CME
Charles W. Otto, M.D |
Simulation-based health care education is a field that was pioneered by anesthesiologists nearly 40 years ago. Numerous advances in technology and educational organization have occurred since the early manikin-based models. Simulators now use highly sophisticated computer algorithms to model many different medical circumstances and employ multiple technologies, including virtual reality, to demonstrate clinical techniques. Simulation centers exist in nearly every state, many firmly anchored in anesthesiology departments of our academic institutions. Simulation has become an important modality for introducing medical, nursing and paramedical students to clinical situations. Many anesthesiology departments incorporate simulation into residency training, although human resource constraints and clinical workload have limited the time available for these experiences.
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ASA NEWSLETTER Articles
May 2006
Simulation: It’s for Real
Jeffrey M. Taekman , M.D |
The field of health care simulation, created by anesthesiologists almost four decades ago, has shown unprecedented growth in the last five years.1 The reason for this expanding interest is multifactorial. Many simulation professionals would cite the Institute of Medicine publications To Err Is Human2 and Crossing the Quality Chasm3 as the primary catalyst of this change. Others might say the power of experiential learning better fits the needs of a 21st century health care learner.4 Regardless of what you believe, simulation training has arrived in health care education. The Society for Simulation in Healthcare <ssih.org> was formed in January 2004. The first issue of Simulation in Healthcare (a peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary journal) was published in January 2006 <www.simulationinhealthcare.com>.
The accrediting bodies of undergraduate and graduate medical education are embracing simulation education <www.acgme.org/acWebsite/bulletin/bulletin12_05.pdf>. The National Board of Medical Examiners and the American Board of Medical Specialties consider simulation an important tool for achieving and assessing clinical competency. Health care specialty societies, such as the American College of Surgeons, have already developed “Education Institute” accreditation methods, which include simulation programs.
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ASA NEWSLETTER Articles
May 2006
White Paper on Simulation: ASA Proposes Approval of Anesthesiology Simulation Programs
Michael A. Olympio, M.D. |
Through the ASA Continuing Medical Education (CME) Strategy Committee, the Section on Education and Research, and the Committee on Outreach Education, a Workgroup on Simulation Education was convened to create a mechanism to foster ASA members’ access to high-quality simulation-based CME. This document summarizes the workgroup’s deliberations over the last 14 months; it describes a process by which simulation programs can be identified, evaluated and approved for this purpose; and, it will inform ASA leadership as the first step toward the establishment of the infrastructure and processes necessary to accomplish this goal.
This effort is timely, given the increasing emphasis on the use of simulation in medical education by the national accreditation bodies and other medical societies. In a recent poll of ASA members, conducted by the workgroup, 80 percent of 1,350 respondents indicated they were interested in simulation-based CME.
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