Center for Simulation & Learning | Hackensack Meridian Health

With a vision to cultivate an organizational environment that is dedicated to interdisciplinary, professional, patient centered education through the use of experiential and simulation based learning, Hackensack Meridian Health has committed resources to the new Center for Clinical Simulation. The center was formally established July 2012 and is dedicated to the professional development of team members through active learning educational programs, which align with the mission of Hackensack Meridian Health. The integration of simulation-based and experiential learning into interdisciplinary education programs is building upon Hackensack Meridian Health’s continued commitment to leadership in health care education.

Traditional teaching methods encourage students to play a passive rather than an active role in learning. Transitioning to active learning requires a paradigm shift from traditional teaching methods, where the teacher provides information to students who listen passively, recall, and utilize rote memorization to an active learning format, where the student is in a dominant position to learn.

As a teaching pedagogy, simulation builds upon the core principles of active learning in professional development. Providing members of the health care team with the variety of patient experiences needed to develop skill and competence is random and unpredictable.

Educators have traditionally focused on the domains of health care education that include psychomotor skills, decision-making, and core knowledge.

In today’s health care environment there is an identified need for a new set of skills that include communication, professionalism, and teamwork and an increasing need to promote confidence and competence in caring for diverse patient populations in an effort to provide safe and optimal care.

These are skills that traditional educational strategies may not address as effectively as experiential learning techniques that integrate active learning, problem based learning and technology, such as simulation.

These methods have been used in industries such as aeronautics for many years with positive results.

Experiential learning creates a safe environment for health care professionals to learn and practice skills with the ultimate goal of providing a safer environment for the delivery of patient care.