Hospitals use simulations to catch errors before patients are harmed
Thursday 8th October 2026 on 07:01 in
Switzerland
Hospitals are using simulation training to improve patient safety and help staff prevent mistakes, SRF reports. At Kantonsspital Winterthur, staff practise emergencies with a high-tech doll while instructors monitor the exercise by camera and microphone.
In one exercise, a premature baby’s oxygen saturation falls while its mother holds it. Nurse Gabriela Cadorin moves the doll to a cot and begins ventilation. Although there is no real patient, Cadorin says the pressure feels real. She had never ventilated a baby before.
After the exercise, staff review what happened in a debriefing. Neonatal nurse and instructor Bettina Sulzberger praised Cadorin’s communication with the mother. The review is also an opportunity to discuss what could be improved.
Communication and speaking up are central skills in the training, says Lukas Hegi, head of the neonatal unit and the simulation centre. Even experienced staff make mistakes, he says, so less experienced colleagues must feel able to point them out. That requires a culture in which staff can raise concerns regardless of their position.
Staff also practise responding to near misses. If two medicines could easily be confused, for example, the centre can create a scenario to help teams learn how to manage the risk before a patient is harmed. Hegi says that regularly discussing mistakes and uncertainties has helped teams respond more calmly in exceptional situations.
A review commissioned by the Federal Quality Commission found that simulation training improves knowledge and teamwork, particularly in recognising errors, communicating and building safety awareness. It found that exercises involving different professional groups are especially effective, and that a debriefing is important for learning.
The focus on patient safety and speaking up has grown following a scandal in the cardiac surgery department at University Hospital Zurich. An independent investigation concluded in 2026 that serious failings occurred there between 2016 and 2020, describing failures of leadership and the system at several levels. It found statistically elevated mortality, with 68 to 74 more deaths than expected compared with other university hospitals.