MSR – The Israel Center for Medical Simulation (Hebrew: מסר - המרכז הארצי לסימולציה רפואית) is Israel's national institute for simulation-based medical education (SBME) and patient safety training. It is located at the Chaim Sheba Medical Center in the Tel HaShomer neighborhood of Ramat Gan, in the Tel Aviv District. MSR is internationally recognized as leader in patient safety simulation-based training.
Overview
The Israel Center for Medical Simulation (MSR) was established at the Chaim Sheba Medical Center in 2001. The center's purpose is to lead a nationwide effort to introduce new standards and innovative approaches to health care training and patient safety education for the benefit of the people of Israel. Reports on patient safety have indicated that health care is far less safe than it should be, and that medical errors are the third cause of death in the US after heart disease and cancer. Simulation based medical education has been recognized as a powerful tool in addressing patient safety and quality-care training.
MSR is under the direction of Professor Amitai Ziv, MD, MHA. He is a veteran combat pilot and flight instructor in the Israeli Air Force where he was first exposed to simulation-based training. Ziv has testified before the U.S. Congress on MSR's medical emergency preparedness programs. He has briefed the Federal Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Homeland Security, the Greater New York Hospital Association, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, and has presented at major medical centers including the Mayo Clinic, Harvard University, McGill University, New York Presbyterian Hospital and Cleveland Clinic/Case Western Reserve.
The 2400-square-meter center is designed as a virtual healthcare environment and encompasses the whole spectrum of medical simulation modalities. These include simulated patients (role-playing actors for communication and clinical skills' training), advanced task trainers (for training of complex manual skills), virtual reality surgical simulators and computer-driven, full-body mannequins, that enable team training for challenging and high-risk clinical conditions. State-of-the-art audiovisual equipment and one-way mirror observation booths ensure effective debriefing and constructive feedback to trainees.
Staffed with a multidisciplinary team of 40, MSR has trained over 200,000 trainees and over 4500 instructors and raters of various health professions in a variety of courses and exams. These courses have been carried out in collaboration with major medical institutions, including health professional schools, the Israel Ministry of Health, Israeli Defense Forces, the Medical Corps, emergency medical services, medical associations, HMOs, major hospitals, risk management bodies and medical simulation, medical equipment and pharmaceutical industries.
MSR's programs
Communication skills
The Simulated Patient Unit trains medical professionals in communication skills essential for their practices, to help them achieve effective and compassionate interactions with their patients. The unit develops and conducts a wide range of training activities and scenarios to improve and promote human skills in general, and clinical communication skills in particular.
MSR engages some 150 role-playing actors of various ages, from adolescents to the elderly. The actors are specially trained to represent a variety of characters found in different encounters with medical caregivers: patients, family members, team members or other colleagues. The role-playing actors participate in a variety of simulations, each of which is a platform for learning, practicing and improving communication and clinical skills. These include delivering bad news, obtaining informed consent, coping with refusal of treatment, apologizing for a mistake, and practicing of neurological tests on a patient, among many others. After participating in a simulation scenario, the trainees receive feedback from the actors, their colleagues and MSR staff, based on direct observations and video recordings.