The International Pediatric Simulation Society (IPSS) is a global community of pediatricians, pediatric subspecialists, pediatric nurses, educators and other allied health professionals who are dedicated to improving the care of infants and children worldwide. They work to achieve this outcome through multi-disciplinary, simulation-based education, training and research in pediatric simulation. The society strives to extend the knowledge and skills that participating members have gained to the widest possible audience. Extending membership and involvement to all healthcare professionals who care for children and infants, regardless of the geographic location where they practice, IPSS has become a global voice influencing worldwide childcare innovation, integration, and motivation. This HealthySimulation.com article by Founder/CEO Lance Baily will highlight IPSS and the benefits of membership.
History and Purpose of the International Pediatric Simulation Society (IPSS)
Since the first IPSS meeting in Stockholm, Sweden in 2008, the year the society was founded by 11 multi-national pediatric medical practitioners, membership to the International Pediatric Simulation Society has grown immensely. With healthcare specialists from over 30 countries, the goal of the IPSS remains to promote multidisciplinary simulation in all healthcare subspecialties that treat infants and children.
The IPSS has grown to a multi-disciplinary community with members from over 30 countries. IPSS is committed to pediatric and perinatal care, their associated health care providers, and institutions to achieve the goal to improve care and safety in care for pediatric populations. IPSS is able to support effective, safe and efficient individual, team and system improvements through the development and sustainability of a dynamic community of practice for pediatric and perinatal simulation-based innovations, education, research, and advocacy.
The society additionally works to promote innovation for implementation and dissemination of pediatric simulation networks. Throughout these networks, and with a unique focus on pediatric and perinatal healthcare, IPSS is able to complement and enhance the efforts of other organizations. This has led the society to be able to champion solutions for resource-limited environments.
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Mission and Vision
The mission of IPSS is to inspire, grow, and lead the global pediatric simulation community. The vision is the best healthcare for children and families. To achieve this, IPSS has identified five mega goals for IPSS:
- Be the global knowledge center for pediatric simulation
- Be an essential and accessible global community of change
- Be a diverse, collaborative community
- Have a diverse revenue stream to ensure sustainability and strategic growth
- Help shape the field of pediatric simulation
Global Initiatives for Pediatric Simulation
As a core element of the IPSSโs functions, the society is involved in various projects around the world. For example, the International Pediatric Simulation Society and participating members are actively involved in developing pediatric simulation in many regions, including Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia and India. As the society grows, so too does the groupโs involvement in growing national simulation programs in emerging regions.
One initiative that IPSS engages with is the World Health Organization (WHO) Emergency Triage Assessment and Treatment (ETAT) course. This course is designed to familiarize health workers with the ETAT guidelines and to provide them with the necessary knowledge and skills for applying the guidelines. The course teaches health workers how to triage all sick children when they arrive at a health facility, into those with emergency signs, with priority signs or non-urgent cases. The purpose of this course is also to explain how professionals should go about providing emergency treatment for life-threatening conditions.
Another initiative that the IPSS works closely with is the Malawi Ministry of Health, a government body established to achieve a state of health for all the people of Malawi that would enable them to lead a quality and productive life. The goal of this initiative is to raise the level of health status of all Malawians by reducing the incidence of illness and occurrence of death in the population. The belief is that this will be done through the development of a sound delivery system capable of promoting health, preventing, reducing and curing disease, protecting life and fostering general well being and increased productivity.
Thirdly, IPSS works with Pediatric Simulation Training and Research Society of India (PediSTARS) to push forward simulation-based interventions in pediatric healthcare across India. Founded in August 2013, PediSTARS implemented an agenda of promoting the use of simulation by conducting various conferences in different parts of the country in addition to hosting various key stakeholder meetings. PediSTARS conducts annual conferences inviting various international and national simulation expert attendees in both medical and non-medical fields as well. At these conferences, PediSTARS conducts simulation-based workshops to promote the use of simulation across a variety of workplaces and as a training tool.
Symposia and Workshops for Pediatric Focused Content
Each year, the IPSS holds an annual meeting, the International Pediatric Simulation Symposia and Workshops (IPSSW). Considered to be one of the worldโs largest meetings dedicated exclusively to pediatric and perinatal simulation, the society is able to bring together clinical care leaders in the field of pediatric care experts to support and facilitate the improvement of pediatric healthcare through simulation. Attendees included all pediatric subspecialties working in medical simulation, from novice to expert-level physicians, nurses, allied health care specialists, simulation experts and researchers, technicians and administrators.
The meeting typically spans three days and features over 120 keynotes and plenary sessions from over 500 speakers. During these sessions, in-depth discussions on the role of healthcare simulation are coordinated to express ways to provide safe and effective care to sick children and infants, and to convey the continued evolution and expansion of pediatric simulation across the globe.
IPSSW provides attending participants with the opportunity to expand ideas, broaden horizons and promote excellence in education and investigative research. The conference also provides networking and knowledge exchanges, hands-on workshops, roundtable sessions, special interest groups, and poster presentations.
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IPSS Virtual (IPSSV) – Online Each Year
IPSS offers an annual IPSS Virtual (IPSSV) online, virtual component of the IPSS annual conference (IPSSW). IPSSV offers an online platform to provide access to a wider international audience that may not be able to attend IPPSW. This is another example of IPSSโs dedication to the improvement in healthcare for children and their families. Each year, IPSSV has a theme or focus. For IPSSV2024, the focus was on AI and Technology in pediatric simulation. The events focused on how AI will transform pediatric simulation to improve patient care.
IPSS Academy Trains with Course Material
As part of their mission, IPSS developed the IPSS Academy, a professional development program designed to elevate simulation skills across disciplines. The IPSS Academy currently offers two healthcare simulation courses: Simulation Foundations and Simulation Design and Practice. The IPSS Academy Simulation Foundations is a self-paced course with over three hours of content. The course is virtual with recorded videos and documents to support the topics, and activities to apply the educational material. The content covered is:
- Pre-Brief
- Simulation Design
- Facilitation
- Scenario Development
- Debriefing Techniques
- Best Practice for Pediatric Healthcare Simulation
The IPSS Academy: Simulation Design and Practice is a one-day immersive interprofessional workshop that offers a comprehensive introduction to pediatric healthcare simulation fundamentals, based on healthcare simulation standards. Completion of the IPSS Academy: Simulation Foundations course is required to participate in this course. The course will teach pediatric healthcare simulation professionals how to create a safe, nonjudgmental learning environment and allows the participants to run and debrief simulation cases. These activities are guided by international healthcare simulation professionals. The Simulation Design and Practice course aims to provide a comprehensive introduction to the principles of healthcare simulation-based education with didactic and experiential learning to engage participants to actively run and debrief simulations.
IPSS-INSPIRE Fellowship Collaborative
IPSS and the International Network for Simulation-Based Pediatric Innovation, Research, and Education (INSPIRE) have a goal to build future leaders in pediatric simulation. This IPSS-INSPIRE Fellowship is intended for the novice simulation-enthusiast with an interest in pediatric simulation-based research and education. The fellowship is open to allied health care workers, nurses, doctors, and all health care professionals who wish to become leaders in simulation.
Learn More About the International Pediatric Simulation Society!
