President

Dear SESAM members,

My name is Helge Lorentzen and I have been elected to the post of President in SESAM's Executive Committee at the General Assembly of the 2011 Annual Meeting in Granada, Spain.

I was born in 1972 and live together with my wife and three daughters in Stavanger (Norway). In 1996 I graduated with a bachelor degree in teaching, and have ten years of experience from teaching at elementary and high school. Since then I continued to work with training and education of different medical professions at different levels.

My clinical background is Paramedic since 1998, and I have worked for both rural and urban ambulance services. Besides this I have worked as a professional rescue diver for seven years, and have been active in volunteer rescue services since 1988. For two years I was the Administrative Manager of the Regional Centre for Emergency Medical Research and Development. It provided valued administrative experience.

Since 2006 I have been working at the SAFER simulation centre as a Pre Hospital Coordinator. At SAFER my responsibilities are training of facilitators, and developing courses and the concept of simulation. My competence in teaching are highly valuable in this, giving me deeper understanding for the internal processes for both the trainee and the trainer.

At the center we are training multidisciplinary with graduate and postgraduate candidates. We are paying attention to training those who work together, with the overall objective to improve patient safety. Therefore I have been working with specific projects like improving the quality of the handover process where Paramedics and ED nurses have been trained together. SAFER has given me valuable knowledge and experience, strengthened by working in a great national and international network of good colleagues. As a result of this, I am an international partner of the EuSim Group.

During my few years as a SESAM member, I have realized the necessity and importance of a common platform for simulation enthusiasts. Meeting and sharing experiences have given valuable perspectives in the understandings of learning and training, particularly through discussions related to my own poster presentations and running workshops at the SESAM annual meetings.

I see SESAM as an important platform for cooperation, networking and sharing competence within Europe. It is a base for sharing knowledge and experience for both novices and experts. This can be achieved by motivating, encouraging and supporting research and development in the field of simulation-based learning and education. SESAM must be a society for and with active members, run and stimulated by a competent and motivated Executive Committee. Sharing experiences with similar organizations within and outside the field of medicine is a must. SESAM should also aim to be a reference for best practice of medical simulation.

Today I find SESAM well on the way to become like my visions and I would like to contribute in this processes with my experience in training and simulation combined with my competence in education.

Sincerely,

Helge Lorentzen