Simulation-based Education to Ensure Provider Competency Within the Health Care System

The acquisition and maintenance of individual competency is a critical component of effective emergency care systems. This article summarizes consensus working group deliberations and recommendations focusing on the topic “Simulation-based education to ensure provider competency within the healthcare system.” The authors presented this work for discussion and feedback at the 2017 Academic Emergency Medicine Consensus Conference on “Catalyzing System Change Through Healthcare Simulation: Systems, Competency, and Outcomes,” held on May 16, 2017, in Orlando, Florida. Although simulation-based training is a quality and safety imperative in other high-reliability professions such as aviation, nuclear power, and the military, health care professions still lag behind in applying simulation more broadly. This is likely a result of a number of factors, including cost, assessment challenges, and resistance to change. This consensus subgroup focused on identifying current gaps in knowledge and process related to the use of simulation for developing, enhancing, and maintaining individual provider competency. The resulting product is a research agenda informed by expert consensus and literature review.