Mater Education partners with leading Boston institutions

Australian health educators can now receive world-class post-graduate certification through Mater Education’s exclusive partnerships with two leading Boston institutions, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Institute of Health Professions and the Center for Medical Simulation (CMS).

The certificate in simulation-based education is awarded by MGH Institute, the graduate school founded by Boston’s renowned Massachusetts General Hospital in 1977.

Currently available to Mater Education’s Simulation Fellows, participants complete coursework remotely under the tutelage of Mater Education’s faculty. They also complete the CMS Simulation as a Teaching Tool program, co-delivered in Brisbane by Mater Education.

During Mater’s 12 month program, Fellows also take the MGH Institute’s Simulation Concentrations. Upon completion of these courses, Fellows will be equipped with the education principles to integrate their clinical acumen and knowledge with the educational and theoretical tools to teach others in both academic and clinical settings, ultimately leading to improved patient care.

Mater Education Chief Executive Officer Donna Bonney said the affiliations with MGH Institute of Health Professions and the Center for Medical Simulation is an important step for Mater Education.

“The partnership highlights our ongoing commitment to develop a world-class offering in simulation based education and quality improvement initiatives. Mater Education is dedicated to providing students and clinicians with the best opportunities to continue developing their own clinical expertise and professional practice and their capability to effectively develop others.”

The MGH Institute certificate program’s director and an associate professor at the Boston graduate school Dr Deborah Navedo said, “We are thrilled to be able to award our certificate to a highly qualified group of practitioners in Australia. Partnering with Mater Education confirms MGH Institute’s position as a pre-eminent higher education partner in simulation-based education.”

Mater’s inaugural Simulation Fellows, Dr Dominic Ormston (anaesthetics) and Dr Richard Mausling (newborn services), are currently completing the MGH Institute graduate certificate in education specialising in simulation, through Mater Education.

Dr Ormston cited the close links with MGH Institute of Health Professions and the Center for Medical Simulation as an important of his professional development.

“Participating in the course available onsite at Mater means that there is scope to start to integrate simulation training into the actual work space and within an active clinical environment.”

Throughout his fellowship, Dr Ormston will work towards developing simulation-based emergency response courses for Mater‘s anaesthetics department. Dr Mausling is working to develop a series of simulation-based training programs for registrars and nurses working in Mater Mothers’ Hospital Neonatal Critical Care Unit to help improve the skills and confidence of early career clinicians.

About Mater Education: Mater Education is a nationally accredited, independent, hospital-based Registered Training Organisation (RTO code 5210)—the only one of its kind in Queensland. We offer a range of courses for students (undergraduate, postgraduate and prevocational) through to highly experienced practicing clinicians. Mater Education is an Affiliate Partner of the internationally renowned Center for Medical Simulation (CMS) in Boston, USA. As the only Affiliate Partner in Australia (and one of only three in the world), Mater Education and its alumni have an exclusive level of access to the resources, skills, advice and experience of a team who are international leaders in the simulation field.

About MGH Institute of Health Professions: It is an innovative and interprofessional graduate school in Boston with more than 1,500 students in post-baccalaureate, direct entry-level master’s and doctorate, and post-professional programs in nursing, occupational therapy, physical therapy, physician assistant studies, speech-language pathology, health professions education, and a PhD in rehabilitation sciences. The college, which has graduated almost 6,700 students, is fully accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). Several programs are highly ranked by U.S. News & World Report. The school for the past three years has been named to the Honor Roll in The Chronicle of Higher Education’s “Great College to Work For” annual survey; the IHP has been named a “Great College” for seven consecutive years.