Monash Simulation and Monash University have celebrated international recognition for their longstanding partnership in patient safety education, with the MED5103 Patient Safety and Preparedness for Practice program receiving the prestigious International Association for Health Professions Education (AMEE) ASPIRE Award in the Innovation and Inspirational Approaches to Health Professions Education category.
For more than 20 years, Monash Simulation has collaborated with the Monash University Medicine course to deliver simulation-based education, clinical skills training and Crisis Resource Management to final-year medical students. Throughout this time, the shared goal has remained the same: preparing future doctors to recognise and effectively manage patient deterioration to improve patient outcomes.
Monash Health was an early leader in immersive simulation-based education, with the foundations of the Simulation Centre established in the late 1990s by anaesthetist Dr Brendan Flanagan. As the importance of patient safety education became increasingly recognised, Monash Health clinicians successfully advocated for a stronger focus on these capabilities within the medical curriculum. This led to the development of the MED5103 Patient Safety and Preparedness for Practice unit in 2006, with contributions from Dr Flanagan, Intensivist Professor Michael Buist and Emergency Physician Dr Julia Harrison, who continues to coordinate the MED5103 program.
The program systematically embeds patient safety principles into the curriculum, focusing on systems thinking, structured communication, escalation of care and learning from error as core capabilities of graduating doctors. The recent ASPIRE Award recognises two decades of leadership and innovation in preparing medical students to deliver safe patient care.
Today, Monash University students undertaking clinical placements at Monash Health attend the Simulation Centre for two half-day workshops. Through immersive simulation activities, students practise managing deteriorating patients, recognising the need for escalation of care and working effectively within multidisciplinary teams in scenarios commonly encountered by junior doctors.
The team at Monash Simulation, now led by Dr Ian Summers and Jessica Gill (Simulation Manager), are proud of the centre’s contribution to the program and remain committed to providing Monash students with a world-class educational experience that enhances work readiness, clinical capability and, ultimately, patient safety.
Kelly Staniforth
Simulation Instructor Monash Simulation / Procedural Skills Educator Monash University School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health