Return on Investment With Health Care Simulation

Delivering simulation across a health system can engage the entire workforce by moving beyond traditional educational delivery and focusing on broader organizational needs specific to a particular organization. The commonly known use of simulation as a form of life support education has progressed to include fully immersive simulation experiences focusing on team-based communication, leadership, fellowship, and clinical care. It continues beyond this point with the inclusion of patient safety strategies, root cause analysis investigation, leadership, and management training, and recently, it has included environments that catalyze innovation in complex healthcare systems. The focus on pure fiscal elements of simulation-based approaches does not give a health system the accurate nontangible benefits simulation can provide, and importantly, acknowledging that each location has differing needs is essential when considering what investment should be made and where. A small community hospital will have vastly different needs from specialty hospitals that deliver specialist care. It must also be understood that every simulation center, to some extent, will always be unique, as it should. The commonly quoted statement "when you have seen one simulation center, you have seen one simulation center" really does reflect the reality of this established and rapidly growing specialty. In this article, we reflect on the traditional use of simulation and discuss some wider uses that may engage a wider audience and, importantly, provide a greater return on investment for your facility, making the case for investment more reasonable and impactful to each part of a busy health system.