Improving quality through simulation

Improving quality through simulation, a quality improvement based framework to guide simulation interventions following key events in healthcare.

Diaz-Navarro C, Jones B, Pugh G, Moneypenny M, Lazarovici M and Grant D, March 2023.

Simulation has been used in healthcare for many years, however, there is no described process to develop and apply a simulation response for improvement after clinical events in a quality assured and reproducible manner.

Therefore, this framework has been developed to guide simulation-based responses following key events in healthcare which is based on Quality Improvement (QI) principles.

The framework provides a step-by-step guide to the design of simulation-based interventions to improve patient safety, including who to engage and how to incorporate best practice. It identifies relevant simulation and safety guidance as well as quality improvement principles.

This work was led by HEIW’s interprofessional experts both in simulation and QI, in collaboration with the Association for Simulated Practice in Healthcare (ASPiH), the Society for Simulation in Europe (SESAM) and Improvement Cymru. This led to the gathering of national and international perspectives which have contributed to the framework.

The framework aims to be useful to anybody in the health and care community that wishes to be involved in developing a simulation response following an event or, more widely, in improvement through the use of simulation.