The Western States Simulation Alliance (WSSA), formerly the California Simulation Alliance (CSA), brings together individuals, organizations, and associations across California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Alaska, and Hawai‘i. This expanded regional focus strengthens collaboration, broadens access to resources, and enhances opportunities to contribute to simulation excellence throughout the western states.
Founded by HealthImpact in 2008, the original CSA was created to connect and support interdisciplinary healthcare educators in California and beyond. Since then, the use of simulation in healthcare has grown significantly. Educators and clinicians increasingly rely on a variety of simulation modalities—both in pre‑licensure programs to enrich clinical learning and in healthcare settings to advance patient care, safety, and team performance. We offer courses (which are preparatory for the Certification as Healthcare Simulation Educator [CHSE] exam), and are a resource for health care interprofessional faculty. The WSSA also helps hospitals use simulation in their patient safety programs to help them reach national patient safety goals.
As nurses step up to new roles in team-based care, simulation is more important than ever to keep RNs and other health care professionals current in a range of skills.
“It’s great to be an active subscriber to one of the largest simulation collaboratives in the country, with access to the latest news on what’s happening in clinical simulation across the state,” says Dr. Marie Gilbert, CSU Fresno and WSSA faculty. “Nurse educators in hospitals and schools can stay up-to-date through the list-serve, newsletter and participation in quarterly conference calls.”
Our goals include:
- Sharing information
- Identifying and spreading best practices
- Faculty development
- Creating, enhancing, and sustaining simulation centers
- Developing evidence-based simulation scenarios
- Promoting joint research on simulation among organizations
- Creating a common language for simulation
For more information and to find out how you can subscribe to the WSSA’s services and/or join our mailing list, visit our website: westernsim.org.
Contact Program Director Alexandra Duke, DNP, RN-BC, CEN, CHSE, CNE®cl, EBP-C at alexandra@healthimpact.org.