Focus Magazine - Fall 2016 - 36

FEATURESTORY Medical Simulation: Is It Worth the Investment? ■ By Jason D. Gwilliam F irst, what is simulation? A simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time. e act of simulating something first requires that a model be developed; this model represents the key characteristics or behaviors and functions of the selected physical or abstract system or process. ink of the countless hours pilots must log on a simulator prior to flying a plane. Over the past several years, medical simulation has become a key training component for many medical device companies. Simulation allows you to bring training to the customer. It is easier to make a mistake on the simulator than during an actual procedure. Simulation is an investment that takes a serious commitment to ensure it is done right. Healthcare/medical simulation improves patient outcomes, facilitates increased task proficiency and patient safety, reduces medical errors and enhances professional communication and team management skills, which reduces the overall healthcare costs. erefore, an increased number of medical schools, training centers and military organizations are adopting simulation technologies. In addition, there is an increasing adoption of technologically advanced simulation systems to create clinical condition situations so that the actual operations on patients can be done with minimized errors. However, high costs of simulators, limited availability of funds and operational challenges 36 may restrain the growth of this market. Bringing Training to the Customer: Simulation is unique as it allows you to bring the training to the customer. Oen times in the medical device space, physicians need to travel to a training course to observe a procedure. With medical simulation you bring them the training. It can be done in almost any environment, from a hotel conference room to an empty cardiac cath lab. is is unique and it allows you as the trainer to spend more quality time with the customer. One experience I can share is that we did a simulation bus tour. Our simulator provider allowed us to rent one of their mobile learning labs that came equipped with a simulator within a classroom on the bus. is proved to be invaluable as we were able to move the bus from city to city in 24 hours and train multiple key accounts in a matter of days. We did this on the West Coast of the United States starting in Las Vegas on Monday and ending in Sacramento on Friday. In total we hit six accounts and trained more than 100 customers in this time. Medical Simulation Market: e healthcare/medical simulation market is segmented on the basis of diﬀerent types of products and services, end users, and regions. e global healthcare/medical simulation market is expected to reach $2,069.2 million by 2019 from $863.5 million in 2014 and, at a compound annual growth rate of 19.1 percent from 2014 to 2019. FOCUS | FALL 2016 | www.L-TEN.org http://www.L-TEN.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Focus Magazine - Fall 2016