ASPiH, aka The Association for Simulated Practice in Healthcare, is a UK-based non-profit membership organization formed in 2010 that is made up of professionals from the fields of healthcare, education, and patient safety. These members include researchers, learning technologists, workforce development managers, education managers, administrators and healthcare staff, and students. Members of the ASPiH tend to have a genuine interest in both new and innovative methods of learning, and wish to optimize the use of available clinical simulation resources across their work. As an ASPiH UK media partner, this HealthySimulation.com article by Founder/CEO Lance Baily will highlight the organization, annual meeting and ongoing online resources.
About ASPiH: The Association for Simulated Practice in Healthcare
Bridging together undergraduate and pre-registration education as well as postgraduate and post-registration training and ongoing continued professional development (CPD), membership with this association is available to all health and social care workforce. Through this membership, the association is dedicated to forming a collaborative community to improve the quality, safety, and effectiveness of patient care by advancing excellence in simulation in healthcare within workforce development and clinical practice.
In providing insight and opportunity to participating members, the Association for Simulated Practice in Healthcare aims to provide an effective communication network for those involved in healthcare simulation and technology-enhanced learning across the UK and beyond. The ASPiH also seeks to provide quality examples of best practice in the application of medical simulation to education, training, assessment, and research in healthcare.
View the HealthySimulation.com ASPIH Webinar Transformative Healthcare Simulation: 7 Layers of Change to learn more!
To support the expansion and uptake of simulated practice, the association has established benefits and evidence of impact that link the practice of nursing simulation with improvements in overall patient safety and quality of care. Drawn from experience within the association, and from links with relevant educational bodies nationally and internationally, the ASPiH develops and shares key operational and strategic resources to all members.
ASPIH Membership Benefits
ASPiH offers members the resources to continue their professional development in healthcare simulation. These benefits include:
- The ASPiH Portal, in conjunction with Beaker Health, is an exclusive membership benefit and is the UK’s largest repository of educational content for those with an interest in Simulation
- ASPiH members have access to a portfolio of different continued professional development (CPD) events that include webinars, Journal Club, Meta-Debrief Club, and the ASPiH Portal
- The ASPiH-affiliated journal, the Journal of Healthcare Simulation, comes with significant membership benefits
- ASPiH Special Interest Groups (SIGs) provide a forum to improve standards and develop shared expertise through communities of practice
- Access to iRIS, an intuitive, collaborative health simulation authoring platform
- Opportunity to join a vibrant proactive research community of practice with access to annual research grant awards
- Early bird rates for our annual conference and register to attend at a discounted rate
- Eligible to obtain ASPiH Accreditation.
- Discounted membership fees with selected affiliate organisations’
- Connect with other members and experts via our communities
- Receive direct email notices and other communication from ASPiH
Simulation-based education (SBE) has matured into a formally recognised education method embedded in all healthcare education programmes. Important standards of delivery of SBE are defined and described in a document that can be readily applied in different organizational contexts. Throughout 2015 and 2016, ASPiH consulted widely and developed the standards framework for simulation-based education in the UK. ASPiH is now in the early stages of provision of an accreditation scheme that individuals and organizations can apply to demonstrate that there is delivery of high quality simulation-based education that will benefit patient care in clinical practice.
The ASPiH recognition differs from other certifications, as this is a portfolio based application and evaluation. The ASPiH is titled as an accreditation for individuals and institutions. There are two key documents recommended to review before the commencement of ASPiH Accreditation application: ASPiH SBE Accreditation Guidance 2019 and The ASPiH Standards for SBE Framework. There are also assessment descriptor matrices to help applicants to have a better understanding of what is expected by reviewers in each of the sections of the individual and organizational application forms.
To become accredited, individuals and organizations should be:
- Delivering simulated-based education
- Able to provide evidence to support their application
- Able to meet the requirements of the standards and accreditation documentation
The Journal of Healthcare Simulation The Journal of Healthcare Simulation -Advances in Theory & Practice (JoHS) is a single-blind peer-reviewed open-access journal. The journal levies Article Processing Charges (APCs) in line with the published APC policy. JoHS provides a forum to share scholarly practice for advances in simulation across diverse applications in health and social care. JoHS targets a wide range of practitioners – health and social care professionals and educators, psychologists, sociologists, engineers, information technologists, economists, program evaluators, policy makers, and researchers.
JoHS publishes papers relevant to simulation that include the study of healthcare practice, human factors, psychology, sociology, anthropology, communication, teamwork, human performance, education, learning technologies, economics, biomedical engineering, anatomy, physiology, pharmacology, therapeutics, scientific computation, modelling, population studies, program evaluation, and more.
ASPiH Annual Conference
The ASPiH annual conference is a leading meeting in the UK for all healthcare professionals involved in simulation-based education (SBE). This includes educationalists, learning technologists, industry colleagues, researchers, patient safety and human factor experts, workforce development and education managers, commissioners, and healthcare staff and students. The purpose of the ASPiH conference is to advance the discipline of SBE and provide an innovative scientific program for colleagues and experts to share and disseminate best practice on SBE in healthcare. In working to achieve this goal, the conference provides an opportunity to network formally and informally through hosting special interest groups, professional meetings, and social programs
At the event you can see products from leading medical simulation companies like Laerdal, Elevate Healthcare, EMS SimulationIQ, Oxford Medical Simulation, SMOTS UK, Gaumard Scientific, B-Line Medical, Trauma FX, Lifecast Body Simulation, and more!
View the new HealthySimulation.com Community UK Simulation Network to discuss this topic with your Global Healthcare Simulation peers!
ASPiH Standards
The ASPiH standards of framework and guidance were launched at the conference in 2016, and the ASPiH has since continued to raise awareness of the benefits and encourage individuals and organizations to work towards implementing and achieving some of these standards. In 2017, several publications mapped an accreditation process to the ASPiH standards for simulation-based education.
In November 2021, ASPiH initiated a formal review and an update of the framework, aiming to meet the current needs of simulation practitioners and learners, reflect the evolution of simulation practice, account for emerging technologies, and address themes such as interprofessional simulation, sustainability, equity, diversity and inclusion. The revision process has included a literature review, ample consultation through virtual and face-to-face meetings, analysis of contributions, drafting of the revised standards and peer review by international simulation experts, as well as stakeholder discussions and a member survey capturing perspectives on the proposed draft.
The ASPiH Standards were updated in 2023. The updated version includes core values, faculty, activity, and resource management. This is the preferred citation for the ASPiH Standards: Diaz-Navarro C, Laws-Chapman C, Moneypenny M, Purva M. The ASPiH Standards – 2023: guiding simulation-based practice in health and care.
The ASPiH Standards were updated in 2023. The updated version includes:
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Core Values
- Safety
- Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
- Sustainability
- Excellence
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Faculty
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Activity
- Preparation & Planning
- Facilitation
- Evaluation & Research
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Resource Management
Other organizations similar to ASPIH include: SSH (and their meeting IMSH), INACSL, SimGHOSTS, SESAM, Simulation Australia, ASPE, FLASIC, and more!
