title: Using simulation for disaster preparedness.
abstract: As it addresses both technical and nontechnical skills, simulation-based training is playing an increasingly important role in surgery. In addition to the focus on skill acquisition, it is also important to ensure that surgeons are able to perform a variety of tasks in unique and challenging situations. These situations include responding to mass casualties, dealing with disease outbreaks, and preparing for wartime missions. Simulation-based training can be a valuable training modality in these situations, as it allows opportunities to practice and prepare for high-risk and often low-frequency events.
  
  
  
  During the 8th Annual Meeting of the Consortium of the American College of Surgeons-Accredited Education Institutes in March 2015, a multidisciplinary panel was assembled to discuss how simulation can be used to prepare the surgical community for such high-risk events.
  
  
  
  An overview of how simulation has been used to address needs in each of these situations is presented.
authors.affiliation: University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX. Electronic address: aimee.gardner@utsouthwestern.edu.
authors.forename: Aimee K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Gardner
authors.affiliation: Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA.
authors.forename: Marc A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: DeMoya
authors.affiliation: Christiana Care Health System, Newark, DE.
authors.forename: Glen H
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Tinkoff
authors.affiliation: University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX.
authors.forename: Kimberly M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.affiliation: University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL.
authors.forename: George D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Garcia
authors.affiliation: Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, VA.
authors.forename: Geoffrey T
authors.initials: GT
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.affiliation: Federal Emergency Management Agency, Anniston, AL.
authors.forename: Bernice W
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Zaidel
authors.affiliation: Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA.
authors.forename: James R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Korndorffer
authors.affiliation: University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX.
authors.forename: Daniel J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Scott
authors.affiliation: American College of Surgeons, Chicago, IL.
authors.forename: Ajit K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Sachdeva
mesh_terms: D004189:Disaster Planning; D004635:Emergency Medicine / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D000066908:Simulation Training; D013043:Specialties, Surgical / Q000193:education*