A major new partnership between key healthcare educators in northwestern Ontario aims to pool resources and increase training capacity, as well as student access, to training simulations for medical learners of all disciplines throughout the region, ultimately leading to better patient care.
The Northwest Centre of Excellence in Health Simulation (NWCEHS), launched on January 24th, formalizes existing agreements between several local organizations including Confederation College, Lakehead University, the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM), the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre (TBRHSC), St. Joseph’s Care Group (SJCG), and Superior North Emergency Medical Services.
“Senior-level leaders are dedicated to making this partnership work,” said Jim Madder, President of Confederation College. “We are looking at solutions that will encourage the collaborative sharing of simulation equipment, space and programming as well as more effective interdisciplinary care. This will ultimately contribute to improved patient care in the region.”
“This partnership allows us to improve simulation, a proven teaching method,” said Kelly Meservia-Collins, Acting Director, Academics & Interprofessional Education, at TBRHSC. “This will lead to better patient care and patient safety in the region, improving the experiences of patients, learners and educators, and healthcare professionals.”
One of the most important aspects of the NWCEHS is that it allows the partners to pool resources to purchase equipment, expand facilities and develop new programming. Forming this alliance will also increase grant and funding opportunities. The NWCEHS will open up new possibilities for other types of collaborative simulations as well, and will not be restricted to high-fidelity simulations.
“This collaborative partnership will lead to improvements in health professions training, expanding the availability of learning resources to learners across northwestern Ontario,” said Dimitri Anastakis, President and CEO of SIM-one. “SIM-one is supportive of this exciting initiative and we look forward to working with the NWCEHS community.”