CHSE (Certified Healthcare Simulation Educator) Exam

Rapid expansion in computer processing, storage, communications, and display capability has resulted in the proliferation of new software for modeling, simulation, and games. Computational models have the capability to produce increasingly useful simulations to predict natural phenomena and engineered systems, study human behavior and physiology, or educate. An increased cultural acceptance of electronic games for a wide variety of applications— including entertainment, education, training, and rehabilitation— has elevated the video games industry into a position of unprecedented significance and legitimacy as a media form. In the meantime, the increased ubiquity of computing power has lowered the threshold for obtaining effective modeling and simulation capabilities. The globalization of technology and increased affordability of hardware have created an environment in which major developments can originate not only from recognized industry and academic sources in the United States but also from individuals in virtually any location in the world.

". . .some of the most valuable information will be that which addresses the day-to-day decisions needed to establish and then maintain a busy simulation center. With resources scarce and expensive, the experience of the contributors is invaluable in sorting through the numerous options in facility design, curricula development, simulator purchasing, scheduling, etc..."

The traditional residency training paradigm established by Dr William Halsted placed a strong emphasis on structured apprenticeships, with trainees developing surgical expertise in a supervised clinical setting over a prolonged training period consisting of increasing levels of responsibility (1). However, the current surgical landscape has required significant modifications to this model, including the development of specific learning objectives outside of the clinical setting and an increased utilisation of simulation-based educational strategies. This repetitive practice of difficult surgical skills in a risk-free environment away from the patient provides the trainee with immediate feedback and the opportunity to train to a predetermined expert proficiency, and seems intuitively, therefore, more efficacious and efficient for both the patient and the healthcare system. This type of surgical education both allows trainees to meet the learning objectives necessary to achieve surgical competency and ensures that they and their surgical educators are able to focus on the development of surgical judgement during the OR experience.