Journalists Club – Nursing Education Network

Healthcare teams are sometimes asked to “prove the value” of simulation. Too often we default to pyramid schemes and ROI spreadsheets. These methods miss what is actually essential. Value-based simulation in healthcare (VBSH) is changing the conversation. It’s a taxonomy, not a hierarchy. It is designed to match evidence to stakeholders and context.

Barker, L., Meguerdichian, M., Walker, K., Janssens, S., Szabo, R., Lopez, C., Henricksen, J., & Symon, B. (2025). Value-based simulation in healthcare: A brand new model for reporting metrics. Advances in Simulation, 10(1).

VBSH “cake” (six slices, unranked)

• – operational “what, who, how” (courses, participants, time, space). Often the quickest strategy to show delivery consistent with your plan or accreditation needs.
• – purposeful feedback from students, leaders, funders and consumers. Subjective – but useful for adoption signals (e.g. confidence in using a brand new process).
• – Validated learning through defensible assessments (checklists, teamwork scales, mastery thresholds) somewhat than self-assessments.
• – system implementation and learning: what modified within the clinical environment and what the simulation revealed about “work after execution”.
• – tangible and intangible impacts linked to the five goals (patient experience, population health, costs, staff well-being, equity).
• – questions making an allowance for costs (“Was it worth spending this amount?”). Return on investment is one option – it must be used when budgeting decisions are based on dollars and never by default.

Why it really works

• stop chasing “higher levels” – select clips that answer the sponsor’s real query.
• avoid wasting time on uncertain performance data; collect fewer, more profitable funds related to the goal.
• report a coherent, decision-ready narrative (results delivered → how they were received → how teams have improved → what has modified on the bedside → any system-level advantages → costs, if vital).

Value in simulation is not a race up the pyramid – it is a context-rich story told using the precise pieces of information for the duty at hand.

Brazil, V. (2025). Value-based simulation in healthcare: Moving from metric power to metric relevance. ICE Blog.