Dear colleagues and friends,
It has been 10 years since the Dutch Society for Simulation and Healthcare launched its first congress and we would therefore like to take this fantastic opportunity to celebrate this with you! This year’s congress of the DSSH will take place at the University of Twente with the title; Time for change?!”. A moment great to look back at 10-year DSSH and most important; to look ahead.
This year’s location is a public research university located in Enschede, Netherlands. It offers degrees in the fields of social sciences, exact sciences and is highly specialized in engineering. The University is committed to making economic and social contributions to the Netherlands, namely the region of Enschede, the former powerhouse of the Dutch textile industry. Therefore, the entrepreneurial spirit is one of the core values of the institution. The University of Twente has a campus where students and staff live, work and study. All education and research buildings of the university are grouped together on an area of approximately 1 kilometre wide and 1.5 kilometre long, on the westside of Enschede.
‘Health’ is a key research theme at the University of Twente. Several hundred researchers are active in the field. They apply various perspectives based on a wide range of disciplines, including medical technology, psychology and logistics. The strengths of all UT Health researchers are brought together in several national and international networks and partnerships. Doctors, nurses and - of course - patients are central to the knowledge and technologies developed by UT Health researchers. UT Health is making a real contribution to progress in healthcare.
During this conference a tour will be provided to the Experimental Centre for Technical Medicine (ECTM), which offers the latest state of the art simulation technology for research, development and the education of students and professionals in health care. It is used as a large high-tech and safe learning space in which the authentic professional environment is simulated. It fits our high demands for training of Technical Medicine students and other professionals, offering them numerous courses and postgraduate courses, such as: Laparoscopic or Endovascular Interventions, Advanced Life Support, Fundamentals of Ventilation. The ECTM is one of the Centers of Expertise of the University of Twente. It is used as a ‘beta test site’ by the market leaders in simulation technology and, of course, several scientists of the MIRA institute carry out their research with the help of advanced technology.
The strong focus on health education makes the University of Twente a proud and suitable host of the 10th annual DSSH conference.
New theories and scientific research about simulation-based education, serious gaming and CRM training have been developed, evaluated and implemented in training programs in the last decades. Now, the time has come to translate all these efforts into sustainable improvement of patient safety- building widely accessible foundations for the future.
Therefore, we would like to invite professionals involved in healthcare to present their research and visions, to network and to become actively involved: nurses, midwives, engineers, psychologists, designers, developers, physicians, human factor managers, healthcare managers, insurances, government and the industry.
The exhibition hall allows attendees to interact with developers, the industry, experts in the field and friends. In the afternoon, a meet and greet has been organized to ask questions to key opinion leaders about research, scientific writing, simulation and serious gaming in daily practice.
The congress is in Dutch; however all presentations and workshops will be supported by English slides but some international presenters may present in English.
So, are you actively involved in building foundations for patient safety?
Do you evaluate the impact of fidelity of simulators or serious games on skills acquisition and patient outcomes? What about issues such as team performances, curriculum design, quality outcomes, costs and implementation of simulation or serious gaming in daily training programs? Do you train, assess or debrief using any type of simulation or serious games? Are you active in E-health?
Then, do not miss the DSSH congress at the university of Twente, March 14th 2018.
We hope to meet you soon in Enschede and increase our network!
Lex van Loon, congress president