Meet Dr. Jordan Tarshis
To celebrate National Volunteer Week, we’ve created some special profiles to showcase the difference volunteers make and why they are an integral part of the work we do.
Jordan Tarshis, MD, FRCPC, is an anesthesiologist with a strong academic bent and a particular interest in simulation training. He is an associate professor in the University of Toronto’s Department of Anesthesia. He is also director of the Sunnybrook Canadian Simulation Centre at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.
Jordan began to volunteer for the Royal College in 2007 by participating on the Anesthesiology Examination Board. He was struck almost immediately by the complexity of the work. “I learned that writing, editing and marking questions is just a fraction of what Royal College exams are about. Examiners must consider the psychometrics of an exam, reference cohorts, the logistics of getting the right people into the right place at the right time, and so much more.”
Jordan’s work as an examiner also opened his eyes to the many activities the Royal College is involved in aside from exams. “Education, assessment, promotion of excellence, continuous learning, standard setting, curriculum design, accreditation and many other activities began to frame my perspective of the Royal College.”
Pride in contributing to an ever-improving quality of care
This broader perspective led to more volunteerism. Jordan’s academic interest in simulation for both education and assessment coincided with the Royal College’s exploration of this modality. He has attended all Royal College Simulation Summits and has been a member of the Royal College Simulation Accreditation Committee since its inception in 2016; that committee is responsible for accrediting simulation programs in Canada and internationally. “I’ve been part of the group that helps promote and celebrate the highest quality of simulation-based education.”
Jordan explains that his abiding motivation to volunteer with the Royal College is to make things “better” – in other words, to commit to a lifelong exercise in quality improvement.
“I have always believed that almost all problems can be helped by a sufficient number of smart, motivated people working together. The Royal College is a facilitator of these kinds of people; problems are considered, solutions proposed, implemented, studied and then modified.”
Jordan hopes that by improving the system, promoting and upholding high standards and teaching other educators, he can contribute to an ever-improving quality of care in Canada – not only in his own specialty of anesthesia, but also across health care education.
Dr. Jordan Tarshis with a mannequin in the Sunnybrook Canadian Simulation Centre
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