Research impact is of key importantance to the work of our Centre and of Imperial College London itself. Impact forms a part of the Research Excellence Framework, which defines it as ‘an effect on, change or benefit to the economy, society, culture, public policy or services, health, the environment or quality of life, beyond academia’.
Impact is an essential part of everything we do and we create it through our research, educational and outreach activities. Collaboration drives and guides us. We work with clinicians, scientists and patients to identify challenges within healthcare and develop simulation to address these. This process, backed by evidence and scientific rigor, translates into tangible benefits for the different groups with whom we collaborate and also wider communities, as detailed below.
Clinicians
Our innovative simulation tools improve clinical training and hence the skills of medical practitioners, whilst our model of engagment through simulation enables clinicians to understand the perspectives of patients and publics.
Patients
Developing simulations for specific clinical processes or procedures allows us to involve patients to improve their understanding of their condition and how it is treated.
Publics
Engagement through simulation provides a means of showing different audiences what happens in the normally closed-off world of medicine and surgery. Our outreach activities inspire publics and enhance their understanding of clinical practice.
Scientists
Simulation provides a means of testing new discoveries and understanding the impact they might have on the wider world.
Experts outside medicine
Using simulation as a means of demonstrating practices within medicine such as teamwork and dexterity allows us to engage with experts from other disciplines to both educate and learn.
Simulation community
We are influencing the work of the wider simulation community by pioneering simulation as a means of advancing human health and taking it beyond its traditional role of training clinicians.