Healthcare Simulation Operations:
Best Practices for Building a Culture of Safety

Jesika S. Gavilanes is the Director of Operations at the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) Mark Richardson Interprofessional Simulation Center (MRISC) in the Robertson Collaborative Life Sciences Building (RLSB) in Portland, Oregon. The new state-of-the-art 20,000 square foot facility facilitates up to 60,000 learner encounters a year utilizing the following modalities: high-fidelity manikin-based simulations, standardized patients, procedural, and clinical skills training.

 Jesika has been involved in simulation operations for over nineteen years, since 2002. Jesika earned her bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Pitzer College in Claremont California in 1995 and completed her Masters in Teaching at Portland State University in August of 2008. Jesika has worked for the Oregon Health & Science University since 1993 and full time for over 23 years, since 1997.

Jesika is the past president for the Northwest Simulation Alliance, the statewide non-profit agency that collaborated with simulation facilities across the state of Oregon and the region. Jesika has been involved with simulation facilities across the country and globally assisting with logistics, operations and simulation implementation. Jesika is a member of the Society for Simulation in Healthcare (SSH), ACS-AEI, ASPE and the International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation and Learning (INACSL). Jesika has served in multiple leadership roles for SSH, as the IMSH 2017 Co-Chair, an author for the INACSL.

Disclosures: None.

Elena An, MS, HCA, has worked at the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) for the past 26 years. She is currently the OHSU Simulation Operations Director for the Oregon Health & Science University VirtuOHSU Simulation & Surgical Training Center. She completed her Masters in Healthcare Administration at Oregon Health & Science University in 2014. In her role overseeing operations for VirtuOHSU Simulation & Surgical Training Center, Elena An also develops policies and procedures in relation to OHSU Simulation and clinical skills training including industry partnerships for surgical education best practices, utilization data reporting, equipment maintenance and space utilization to name a few. She has been a leader in the facilitation of the Annual Surgical Simulation Auction that has raised over 1.2 million dollars over the past decade. She has been integral in the American College of Surgeons Education Institute Accreditation at OHSU and lead the coordination and execution of the ACS AEI Post Graduate course in Portland, Oregon, September 2017.

Disclosures: None.