• Eduardo Salas, Katherine A Wilson, C Shawn Burke, and Heather A Priest.
• Department of Psychology and Institute for Simulation and Training, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, USA. esalas@ist.ucf.edu
• Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf. 2005 Jul 1; 31 (7): 363-71.

BackgroundThrough simulations health care workers can learn by practicing skills taught and experiencing mistakes before interacting with an actual patient. A number of areas within the health care industry are currently using simulation-based training to help individuals and teams improve patient safety. WHAT IS SIMULATION-BASED TRAINING? The key components of simulation-based training are as follows: performance history/skill inventory, tasks/competencies, training objectives, events/exercises, measures/metrics, performance diagnosis, and feedback and debrief. WHAT DOES IT TAKE FOR SIMULATION-BASED TRAINING TO BE EFFECTIVE? To be effective, simulation-based training must be implemented appropriately. The guidelines are as follows: understand the training needs and requirements; instructional features, such as performance measurement and feedback, must be embedded within the simulation; craft scenarios based on guidance from the learning outcomes; create opportunities for assessing and diagnosing individual and/or team performance within the simulation; guide the learning; focus on cognitive/psychological simulation fidelity; form a mutual partnership between subject matter experts and learning experts; and ensure that the training program worked.ConclusionThe health care community can gain significantly from using simulation-based training to reduce errors and improve patient safety when it is designed and delivered appropriately.

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