Jump Simulation Receives Accreditation for Innovative Surgery Simulation Fellowship

Using simulation in health care is becoming more and more popular as a way to provide innovative learning experiences and to improve competency among health care providers. 

Jump Simulation, a part of OSF Innovation, recently became one of only 16 health care systems in the country to receive national accreditation from the American College of Surgeons Accredited Education Institutes (ACS-AEI) for its two-year Fellowship in Simulation and Education, a collaboration between University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria (UICOMP) and OSF HealthCare. The Simulation Fellowship, established in 2016, allows medical students to become experts in surgical simulation for academic focus once they complete their five-year general surgical residency.

Jump Simulation joins such prestigious health care organizations as Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota and Cleveland Clinic in Ohio in offering an accredited Simulation Fellowship. The ACS considered a variety of factors in granting accreditation, including excellence in a variety of areas: assessment, curriculum, operations, resources, governance and advancement in the field.

This is the third, significant accreditation for Jump Simulation. Last May, the international organization, Society for Simulation in Healthcare (SSH), awarded five-year accreditation to Jump Sim, located in one of the largest health care engineering centers in the world built specifically for simulation to improve performance and reduce errors in patient care. Last August, Jump was re-certified by ACS as an Outstanding Center for Simulation Education.

Dr. Richard H. Pearl, director of OSF HealthCare’s Surgical Simulation and ACS Simulation Fellowship, says the ACS accreditation will help attract the best students who are interested in teaching surgical simulation which is a relatively new academic field. The Surgical Simulation Fellow is trained to deliver quality surgical education using simulation to enhance patient safety.

The fellowship requires spending time in clinical surgery settings based on interest. Fellows experience a variety of surgical simulations. Additionally, they receive instruction in the operation and programming of a variety of medical simulation technologies including but not limited to virtual reality, human patient simulators, and data management to improve processes which can positively impact patient care and outcomes.

Dr. Pearl says the credential from ACS’s Accredited Education Institutes gives general surgery residents an advantage when applying for other competitive surgical sub-specialty fellowships or faculty positions at teaching hospitals.

“If you’re applying for a job in academic general surgery, this could be very helpful because lots of places are looking for people who are experts in simulation to add to their faculty,” he said.

The designation is an important recognition of Jump Simulation’s high-quality training which is producing health care leaders equipped to champion patient safety, improve processes, and to oversee simulation centers and accredited education Institutes. By the end of their two-year experience, the Jump Simulation Fellow will also know how to apply for and manage research grants. Dr. Pearl points out the accredited program includes a requirement the Simulation Fellow apply for research funding and present findings at national meetings.

“When surgical residents are looking for a place to do surgical simulation training, they look for an approved place that has credentialing and they look at those places that have approved fellowships,” according to Dr. Pearl.

“ACS accreditation ensures Jump faculty and fellowship programs are of the highest quality and offer the highest opportunity for growth in simulation”, according to John Vozenilek, Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Jump Simulation and Education. He added, “Our ACS site visitors noted our unique opportunity for fellows to innovate medical simulation design and to build new training devices through Jump ARCHES.” The Applied Research Center for Community Health through Engineering and Simulation is a partnership of clinicians and engineers with access to competitive grants to solve real world health care problems.