National Conferences

Anesthesiology

Mannequin patient simulators such as the Human Patient Simulator were invented in anesthesiology departments in the late 60’s at the University of Southern California and re-invented in the late ‘80s at Stanford and the University of Florida.  The Society for Technology in Anesthesia (STA) held an annual simulation meeting until the simulation component outgrew the STA meeting and became the International Meeting for Simulation in Healthcare.  The annual meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) has seen an increasing presence of simulation.   Simulation is now also a component of the Maintenance of Competency in Anesthesia (MOCA) recertification. 

Neurosurgery

The American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) annual meeting features a Top Gun competition where some stations consist of simulators.  For the 2011 annual meeting, the University of  Florida  Department of  Neurosurgery and the Center for Safety, Simulation & Advanced Learning Technologies are contributing a ventriculostomy simulator to the Top Gun competition.