Simulation in Surgical Education (MEDS90015)

Simulation as an educational method is of growing importance in surgical education. Several drivers contribute to this growth including the patient safety movement, safe working hours and technology developments of simulators.

In the United Kingdom, the Chief Medical Officer has identified simulation as one of the top five challenges for the health services and education in this decade. The last twenty years has seen an exponential growth on scholarly work on surgical simulation with specialised journals competing with clinical practice journals for impact factor.

In the United States, it is now mandatory for surgeons to be credentialed in simulation for specific surgical procedures prior to performing the procedures on real patients. It is likely this trend will expand to more procedures and across national boundaries.

The Australian Government is also planning substantial investment in simulation-based education for medicine, nursing and allied health professionals. This subject will contribute to students’ understanding of social, political, economic and educational aspects of simulation.

This subject explores the scope of simulation as an educational method for surgical practice. It goes beyond the role of simulators for the development of psychomotor skills to include blended simulation modalities and the role of simulated patients. Additionally, the validation of simulators will be explored considering industry standards.

The overall aims of the subject are:

• To explore the role of simulation as an educational method for surgical training
• To identify benefits and challenges of simulation in surgical training