What is Quality Assurance?
Quality Assurance (QA) in education, is a system of ensuring that quality management and quality control processes are in place within an organisation to demonstrate setting, training and monitoring of standards. These processes also ensure there is a quality evidence base.
QA provides a framework for identifying where organisations/workplaces/institutions are not meeting standards for simulation-based learning and training and outline options for promoting improvement.
A national QA system ensures that standards of simulation-based learning are accessible to all healthcare practitioners wherever they practice and whatever their professional background.
A QA system for simulation-based learning provides:
- the underpinning of multi-professional national standards of delivery. This facilitates a continuous improvement culture of clinical skills educational practice using simulation by either individuals or teams of healthcare practitioners;
- an explicit approach which promotes the sharing of safe, best educational practices;
- the flexibility of transfer of workforce as a result of national standards of educational practice using simulation support for the implementation of the national skills and simulation strategy to create a workforce that has the flexibility and adaptability to deliver quality and consistent services across Scotland where needed.
The Association of Simulation in Practice (ASPiH) offers accreditation services and several simulation centres already have accreditation. Similarly SESAM and SSH also offer accreditation.