Chair's Column
TOWARDS A NETWORK OF EXCELLENCE IN SIMULATION

James Rutka
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Recent events in the field of
medical simulation at the
University of Toronto have
prompted me to devote this
issue’s column to a review of
the Department of Surgery’s
efforts in the “Simulation
Summit” that was hosted by the
Faculty of Medicine at the Peter
Gilgan Centre for Research and
Learning at Sick Kids Hospital
on Wednesday February 26th, 2014. Dean Catharine
Whiteside had tasked Dimtri Anastakis, Vice-Dean
Continuing Professional Development, and me to bring
together key stakeholders across several Departments to
participate in a high level “think tank” on coordinating
simulation efforts across the campus. You may recall
that both the Undergraduate Medical Education (UME)
and Postgraduate Medical Education (PGME) Programs
were identified as requiring a concerted approach to
enhancing simulation infrastructure and curriculum
development following their most recent reviews by
the Committee on Accreditation of Canadian Medical
Schools (CACMS), Liaison Committee on Medical
Education (LCME) and the Royal College of Physicians
and Surgeons. Thankfully, in the Department of Surgery,
we are quite well endowed with numerous simulation
offerings at multiple institutions for medical students,
residents, fellows, and faculty. In fact, in advance of the
“Simulation Summit” meeting, we had held two prior
meetings in the Department of Surgery in efforts to take
stock of our holdings and curriculum development in
simulation. Many of you are aware of the recent establishment
of the Department of Surgery “Prep Camp”
which delivers core surgical skills to all PGY1’s over an
intense two week period at the beginning of July in the
Surgical Skills Centre (SSC). This Prep Camp has proven
to be a remarkable success, and is built on the premise
that surgical simulation can be used to advance residents’
knowledge and performance of basic surgical skills.
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At the Simulation Summit meeting, following the
Dean’s welcome, presentations were given by Jackie
James, VP Education at Mt Sinai; Oleg Safir, Director,
SSC Mt Sinai; Walid Farhat, Urology, Sick Kids;
Agnes Ryzynski, Simulation Centre Sunnybrook; Sal
Spadafora, Vice Dean, PGME; Jay Rosenfield, Vice
Dean UME; Trevor Young, Chair, Department of
Psychiatry; and Paolo Campisi, Otolaryngology, Sick
Kids. These presentations clearly demonstrated the
strength and depth of simulation efforts in the Faculty
of Medicine. The presentations were followed by group
discussions on potential next steps to build a cohesive
model of simulation curricula and opportunities for
learners at the University of Toronto.
Some of the key discussion points included developing
an appropriate governance structure for simulation
efforts across the University; establishing a centralized
“Office of Simulation” within the Faculty of Medicine;
fostering research in simulation across all sites; defining
a robust business plan centrally which would enable all
sites to grow programs, educate learners at all levels, and
recover costs for all offerings.
From here, it is clear that a Simulation Network Task
Force will be formed. We will work with SIMOne provincially
to create an inventory of all activities within the
University of Toronto in the field of medical simulation.
It will be the role of the Task Force in the near future
to operationalize the opportunities to build a Network
of Excellence for Simulation activities in the Faculty
of Medicine. It is my strong hope and belief that the
Department of Surgery will continue to play a major role
in these efforts in the months and years to come.
James T Rutka,
RS McLaughlin Professor and Chair,
Department of Surgery, University of Toronto
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