Anesthesiology Research

Dr. Blum is a pediatric anesthesiologist, board certified in both pediatrics and anesthesiology, with a research interest improving patient safety through the use of simulation in healthcare.

He has been a member of the faculty of the Center for Medical Simulation in Cambridge, Massachusetts since 1995.  CMS was a pioneer in health care simulation education using communication, collaboration and crisis management to develop skills and behaviors to improve performance.  CMS began teaching the principles of team training using Crisis Resource Management to Harvard Anaesthesia Residents, and expanded to different specialties including pediatrics, obstetrics, otorhinolarynogology and surgery.  As part of the early leadership of using simulation in patient safety education, Dr Blum remains actively involved on a local, national and international level.

Dr. Blum is currently the Principal Investigator on a project to improve patient safety by creating a high fidelity, simulation-based assessment tool that will identify underperforming physicians at an early stage of training leading to systems that enable remediation or counseling out of a medical specialty and/or medicine with the goal of ensuring that no under-performing resident graduates from a residency program.  This assessment system will be robust and aided by integration of the science of competency modeling into our program; this collaboration will be unique and a potentially important contribution to healthcare.