Advancing Health:

How Simulation is Transforming Patient Safety and Emergency Readiness
American Hospital Association | October 22, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode explores the transformational impact of simulation in healthcare, showcasing a collaborative approach between Advocate Health and Laerdal Medical to advance patient safety, clinical quality, and workforce readiness. The discussion highlights the journey of embedding simulation into everyday hospital practices, the strategies for securing organizational buy-in, actionable insights from real-world simulation scenarios, and the crucial role of simulation in preparing for the complexities and uncertainties of healthcare’s future.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Backgrounds and Foundations in Simulation

• Kelly Saba shares her path from pediatric nurse and educator to leading simulation programs, emphasizing her passion for teamwork, communication, and safety.
  • “I found that I was able to use a lot of those skills in a hospital-based setting… I was completely sold... on how we could utilize simulation to really make an impact.” (Kelly Saba, 01:07)
• Brian Bjorn details his transition from public health physician to patient safety manager at Laerdal Medical, using his clinical safety expertise to enhance simulation deployments.
  • “We like to think of simulation and how it relates to patient safety as… three tiers.” (Brian Bjorn, 03:22)

2. The Three Tiers of Simulation’s Impact

• Individual Skills: Practice technical procedures safely before performing on patients.

• Team Skills: Hone interprofessional communication and synchronization in high-acuity or time-critical scenarios, opportunities often missed in formal education.

• Systems Improvement: Use large-scale and system-wide simulation to identify, analyze, and mitigate system-level risks (“find the holes in the Swiss cheese”).

  • “Simulation… used as a tool to find the holes in the Swiss cheese…” (Brian Bjorn, 04:04)

• Laerdal Accelerate Program:

  • Provides “simulation in a box”—Laerdal experts bring equipment and manage simulations, followed by comprehensive progress reports analyzing thousands of data points for actionable insights.
  • “We come on site and run simulations for you… and a couple of weeks later… a snapshot of what did you do well, where is there room for improvement…” (Brian Bjorn, 04:34)

3. Embedding Simulation into Diverse Hospital Cultures

• Advocate Health’s Midwest experience shows importance of highest-level leadership support down to grassroots champions:
  • Executive Buy-In: Initiated by passionate leaders at CMO and president levels, ensuring simulation became a system priority.
  • Custom Approaches: Recognizing “each hospital… has a different culture,” simulation was tailored to local contexts:
    • Some sites required top-down support,
    • Others succeeded through grassroots efforts, starting small and letting frontline staff promote success upwards.
  • Strategic Question: “What keeps you up at night?” used to identify and align simulation with urgent local needs.
    • “We really had to tailor our approach to each of those different cultures and flavors… and be really flexible and fluid.” (Kelly Saba, 07:06)
• Collaborative Relationships: Matrix reporting to patient safety leadership embedded simulation into quality improvement structures.

4. Building a Culture That Trusts Simulation

• Leadership’s Role:
  • “Attention is the currency of leadership. And if you do not have the attention of leadership on this, you’re not going to make the kind of progress that Advocate has shown is possible.” (Brian Bjorn, 09:43)
• Beyond Education: Simulation isn’t just a training tool, but a core strategic asset for system improvement and safety culture.
  • “Simulation really can help build and maintain a culture of safety… a safe space for learning and for failing.” (Brian Bjorn, 10:20)

5. Simulation as a Diagnostic and Preventative Tool

• Uncovering Hidden Risks:
  • Early “mock codes” revealed unexpected gaps in role clarity, equipment access, crash cart organization, and defibrillator standardization.
  • Resulted in system-wide changes: new code blue policies, standardized equipment, and continuous monitoring for improvement.
  • Notable story: “We had up to four different types of defibrillators… one code team was having to know how to use this equipment across multiple LOC within their own building.” (Kelly Saba, 12:15)

6. Fostering Psychological Safety and Reflection

• Simulation uniquely creates space for teams to reflect, learn from mistakes, and speak up:
  • “Normally you provide the care in your unit and then you go on to the next thing… we don’t stop and… debrief every interaction, every process, every single day.” (Kelly Saba, 13:40)
  • Recent example: Collaboratively training telemetry and non-telemetry unit staff prior to opening a new hospital wing, aligning workflows and expectations to enhance safety and readiness.

7. The Future of Simulation in Healthcare

• Adapting to Complexity and Change:
  • Simulation will be key to survival amid “fundamental” changes in healthcare finance and service delivery.
  • “Using simulation to test out different approaches… will allow hospitals to adapt to this new environment much more quickly.” (Brian Bjorn, 15:38)
• Opportunities: Broad potential exists for expanding simulation beyond current uses, including patient and caregiver engagement and rapid adaptation to technological and structural change.

Notable Quotes & Moments

• “Attention is the currency of leadership.” — Brian Bjorn (09:43)
• “What keeps you up at night?” — Kelly Saba’s key question to local leaders (07:50)
• “Simulation really can help build and maintain a culture of safety… everything we do in simulation revolves around this idea of creating a safe space for learning and for failing and without risking any harm to the organization or to our patients.” — Brian Bjorn (10:13)
• “We were seeing opportunities around our crash carts... teams [not knowing] how to access the medications or access the supplies... up to four different types of defibrillators... we were able to... form a committee that really looked at practice within code blue, and there was a new policy written, there was standardization...” — Kelly Saba (12:10–12:55)
• “Simulation has a natural ability to [build trust and psychological safety] when we’re bringing teams together… providing that safe space for those opportunities is really important and it allows for us to build trust.” — Kelly Saba (13:37)
• “Simulation might be one of the things that determine whether you’re able to survive in the environment we are heading into.” — Brian Bjorn (15:22)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:22 – Introduction of guests and backgrounds in simulation
• 03:22 – Three tiers of simulation for patient safety
• 05:53 – How to secure buy-in and embed simulation in daily hospital practices
• 09:35 – Building a culture of trust in simulation; leadership’s vital role
• 11:06 – Using simulation to identify safety gaps and system-level risks
• 13:37 – Simulation as a space for psychological safety and debrief
• 15:22 – The future: simulation as a driver of adaptation and survival in evolving healthcare

Summary

This episode provides an in-depth, practical look at the broad potential and proven results of embedding simulation in healthcare organizations. It emphasizes the importance of flexible, culture-sensitive implementation, the crucial role of leadership, and the far-reaching implications for safety, adaptability, and organizational readiness amidst complex and evolving healthcare demands. The conversation is rich with anecdotes, expert insights, and actionable takeaways for healthcare leaders and frontline teams.