Newswise — Bethesda, Md. — The National Capital Simulation Consortium, including the Val G. Hemming Simulation Center of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU), was granted 5-year accreditation by the Society for Simulation in Healthcare (SSH). The accreditation is for the Consortium’s Assessment, Research, Teaching/Education, System Integration and Patient Safety programs. This is the first accreditation that the international accrediting body has awarded to the Consortium, which includes USU, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and Fort Belvoir Community Hospital.
The accreditation decision represents the highest level of accreditation that can be awarded to an organization and shows the Consortium’s substantial conformance to the SSH standards. In earning the five-year accreditation, the Consortium put themselves through a rigorous peer review process and demonstrated to the accreditation team of surveyors, through evaluation of a comprehensive application and during an on-site visit, its commitment to offering healthcare simulation training programs and services that are measurable, accountable, and of the highest quality.
The Society for Simulation in Healthcare Accreditation was established in January 2004 to represent the rapidly growing group of educators and researchers who utilize a variety of simulation techniques for education, testing, and research in healthcare. The membership, now more than 3,000, is united by its desire to improve performance and reduce errors in patient care using all types of simulation including task trainers, human patient simulators, virtual reality and standardized patients. SSH promotes improvements in simulation technology, educational methods, practitioner assessment and patient safety that promote better patient care and can improve patient outcome.
The National Capital Simulation Consortium has been providing healthcare simulation activities to students, residents, fellows and staff since 1999. Working with a wide array of partners from the Department of Defense and other federal agencies, the more than 30,000 sq. ft. Val G. Hemming Simulation Center (www.simcen.usuhs.edu) provides learners with an expansive selection of training tools from simulated clinical exams using live patients, to task trainers designed to improve skills and in procedures, to the Wide Area Virtual Environment, or WAVE, for team training of combat medical and surgical teams. * * *
The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU), founded by an act of Congress in 1972, is the academic heart of the Military Health System. USU students are primarily active duty uniformed officers in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Public Health Service who receive specialized education in tropical and infectious diseases, TBI and PTSD, disaster response and humanitarian assistance, global health, and acute trauma care. A large percentage of the university’s more than 5,200 physician and 790 advanced practice nursing alumni are supporting operations around the world, offering their leadership and expertise. USU also has graduate programs in biomedical sciences and public health committed to excellence in research, and in oral biology. The University's research program covers a wide range of clinical and basic science important to both the military and public health. For more information, visit www.usuhs.edu.
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