Translational simulation at Western Health
Vision
The Western Health Simulation Program empowers our teams to deliver the best care to patients in Melbourne's west.
About us
Translational simulation is a tool that every Western Health employee can access to improve the way we care for our community.
Coined by Professor Victoria Brazil from Bond University, it aims to directly improve patient care and healthcare systems, through diagnosing safety and performance issues and delivering simulation-based interventions.
The Western Health Simulation Program employs translational simulation to support our clinical and non-clinical teams.
Key focus areas
Systems testing
Quality improvement
High-performance multidisciplinary team training
Testing and design of new spaces, processes, protocols and new equipment
Supporting education teams.
Translational simulation can occur anywhere in the health system and often includes utilising in-situ simulation where simulated scenarios are conducted in the actual clinical environment involving the multi-disciplinary teams who work there.
Translational simulation can also occurs in designated training spaces, including the Western Health Simulation Centre, a purpose built education and learning space at Sunshine Hospital.
Simulation Community of Practice
At Western Health we have a Simulation Community of Practice with more than 50 members committed to expanding translational simulation across our health service.
By working together, translational simulation can be used by nurses, midwives, doctors, allied health professionals and the administrative and support staff to prepare for scenarios they may encounter in both clinical and non-clinical settings.
It is a valuable tool for diagnosing safety and performance issues and devising simulation-based interventions.
Applications at our health service
Examples of translational simulation projects at Western Health:
Multidisciplinary response team training
Electronic Medical Records (EMR) implementation
Accreditation readiness
Implementation of new code response systems.
A message from our Director Dr Nancy Sadka
"We often train in silos in healthcare, but the real magic happens when we understand each other's roles across the whole organisation in a variety of situations and how we work together as a team to achieve our goals.
“When it comes to errors, they often do not result from a lack of knowledge, but from system deficiencies, or communication breakdowns and siloed approaches to working.”
Read more about Dr Sadka’s career
Strategic goals
Read about the Simulation Program Strategic Goals
Find out more
Contact Simulation Director Dr Nancy Sadka: [email protected]
