Editorial on Veterinary Simulation

David M. Gaba, MD In this issue, for the first time, Simulation in Healthcare is pleased to publish an article that addresses nonhuman healthcare. In this case, it is a description by Baillie et al (page 261 in this issue) on the technical aspects and experience in use of a simulator for bovine rectal examination. Simulation in Healthcare has always espoused a philosophy of covering innovative scholarship on simulation in healthcare. Although it is taken as given that most of our articles will deal with human healthcare, this has never been a requirement. We strongly believe that simulation is a technique, not a technology, and thus we are excited that the technique is being applied to healthcare of animals as well. I can well attest that medical students are squeamish about learning to perform rectal examinations on patients, and indeed even experienced physicians are wont to “defer” appropriate rectal examinations unless they are absolutely required. Thus, as a practitioner of human healthcare, I can only imagine the challenges of teaching or learning bovine rectal examination. Hence, another arena where the power of simulation can be harnessed to benefit clinicians and patients alike. We look forward to publishing further developments in the world of simulation for veterinary healthcare. Moreover, I would point out that articles discussing issues of veterinary simulation versus that used for human healthcare are about the only ones that are entitled to use the term “human patient simulation.” The Journal’s standard usage is that, other than in this situation, all “patient simulation” is assumed to be human patient simulation, making the adjective redundant.