Simulation to improve patient safety: Getting started (AHRQ, July 2024)

Summary

Simulation—where scenarios are recreated in a practice environment as a tool for learning—can be used to improve patient safety. Simulation has a number of functions in healthcare, including helping identify and mitigate latent safety threats, testing quality improvement changes before they are implemented and revealing information that would not have otherwise been discovered. This issue brief from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) discusses practical strategies to advance patient safety through simulation and debriefing.