Be Prepared

Abstract

IntroductionThe COVID-19 pandemic forced healthcare institutions to rapidly adapt practices for patient care, staff safety, and resource management. We evaluated contributions of the simulation center in a freestanding children's hospital during the early stages of the pandemic.MethodsWe reviewed our simulation center's activity for education-based and system-focused simulation for 2 consecutive academic years (AY19: 2018–2019 and AY20: 2019–2020). We used statistical control charts and χ2 analyses to assess the impact of the pandemic on simulation activity as well as outputs of system-focused simulation during the first wave of the pandemic (March–June 2020) using the system failure mode taxonomy and required level of resolution.ResultsA total of 1983 event counts were reported. Total counts were similar between years (994 in AY19 and 989 in AY20). System-focused simulation was more prevalent in AY20 compared with AY19 (8% vs. 2% of total simulation activity, P < 0.001), mainly driven by COVID-19–related simulation events. COVID-19–related simulation occurred across the institution, identified system failure modes in all categories except culture, and was more likely to identify macro-level issues than non–COVID-19–related simulation (64% vs. 44%, P = 0.027).ConclusionsOur simulation center pivoted to deliver substantial system-focused simulation across the hospital during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our experience suggests that simulation centers are essential resources in achieving safe and effective hospital-wide improvement.