City of Zagreb Simulation Center - improving the quality of health services in primary health care

Introduction The City of Zagreb Simulation Center (ZG-SIMC) is a training center designed to improve quality of health services, increasing patient safety with continuous theoretical and practical education of all the participants in the primary level of healthcare. The training course will include various education programs tailored to the needs and knowledge of all medical professionals. Aim And Theory Of Change The aim of ZG-SIMC is continuous education of primary level  healthcare providers, to renew and enhance knowledge periodically, as well as improve already acquired practical skills in clinical practice. Applying various techniques of coping with high levels of stress, simulating  different conditions and situations, competent educators aim to improve knowledge but also practical and communication skills. By completing this program, participants learn to react in life-threatening situations following guidelines of emergency care. Targeted Population And Stakeholders At the ZG-SIMC, training is conducted by instructors competent for guiding the simulations training and educated for proper usage of the equipment and applications used for simulating advanced maintenance algorithms. Participants are medical professionals, but algorithm will be tailored and available for educating non-medical staff in healthcare institutions and wider public. Timeline In 2019, the representatives of City of Zagreb and of primary healthcare institutions Health Center Zagreb (HCZ) Centar, HCZ West, HCZ East and Teaching Institute of Emergency Medicine Zagreb met with representatives of the Simulation Centre of Community Health Centre Ljubljana. The goal of the meeting was to exchange knowledge and gain new information about simulation training program which showed great results in Slovenia. It  resulted in lasting cooperation with included education of future ZG-SIMC educators, partnership and it established the basis for ZG-SIMC. Highlights( (Innovation, Impact And Outcomes) The SIM center is a carefully designed contemporary and dynamic space consisting of reception, lecture room, several separate rooms equipped with state-of-the-art medical equipment used for practice or simulations, and a control room with the video surveillance of the simulation sites. Simulation training imitates real clinical situations with  vitally endangered patients and trains the participants to treat them effectively, safely and without violating professional ethics. The participants, by completing the training, will update their skills and knowledge and gain confidence to implement the training in everyday practice, if and when needed. Education and proper training of primary healthcare givers lead to increased patient satisfaction, fewer negative outcomes of treatments and reestablishes primary healthcare as a fundamental segment of healthcare. Conclusions (Comprising Key Findings) The simulation center raises the education level, while reducing workload at the secondary and tertiary levels of healthcare. By simulating real-life situations they provide health employees with experience which wasn't or couldn't be gained throughout their education or experience beforehand. Discussion The importance of the simulation center lies in preparing all of the participants for the unexpected. Educators foster the feeling of fear and discourage shame to enable better learning while participants manage the space, use equipment, properly administer medications as well as other available medical supplies in order to treat vitally endangered patient.