The Society for Simulation in Healthcare (SSH)—the gold standard of healthcare simulation education credentialing programs—has recognized the Sutter Health University Simulation Center program with full accreditation, citing several of the SHU center’s processes and practices as “exemplary in the field.”

“The accreditation is a symbol of excellence,” says Christine Cress, Clinical Workforce Planning and Development director at Sutter Health, a not-for-profit healthcare network in Northern California.

“It indicates that we’ve met a series of best practices in simulation education, and we’ve had to demonstrate more than two years of evaluation data for learning outcomes. It also means that all of our staff are recognized for their rigorous skill development in the area of simulation education.”

The SHU program, located in Sacramento, trains 1,000 Sutter Health participants each year in a six-hospital room simulation suite that includes a pyxis room with automated medication dispensing. Current classes center on the emergency department, labor and delivery, critical care and the operating room.

“We focus on training registered nurses right now, but we’ll expand to surgical techs and medical assistants,” says Christine Cress. “We’ll also collaborate to include interdisciplinary education with physicians.”

Accreditation begins years before the application with development of objectives, education design to meet those objectives and continuous improvement to achieve learning outcomes. SSH’s evaluation of Sutter’s healthcare simulation program included in-depth assessment of the SHU Simulation Center’s practices and processes as well as an onsite evaluation visit from the SSH team.

“This accreditation positions Sutter Health as a nationally recognized simulation center and enables us to partner with other simulation labs across Sutter to further best practices and standardization in education,” says Cress.