Preparing for CHSE Certification? How BodyViz Can Contribute to Simulation Education Concepts

October 26, 2026

Preparing for Certified Healthcare Simulation Educator (CHSE) certification means understanding more than simulation technology. Candidates are expected to apply educational principles, design effective simulation activities, assess learners, select appropriate resources, and understand the role of simulation within healthcare education.

For educators who already use BodyViz, the platform can provide a practical environment for working through some of those concepts. BodyViz combines real patient anatomy from MRI and CT scans, with interactive 3D visualization, virtual dissection, clinical cases, educational activities and assessments. While it is not a dedicated CHSE preparation program, educators can use those resources to put selected simulation-education principles into practice.

What Does the CHSE Exam Cover?

The Society for Simulation in Healthcare developed CHSE certification for professionals working in healthcare simulation education. The current examination contains 115 multiple-choice questions and has a two-hour time limit. One hundred questions contribute to the candidate's score.

The current examination blueprint is divided into four domains:

Professional Values, Capabilities, and Leadership — 20%
Healthcare and Simulation Knowledge and Practices — 28%
Educational Principles Applied to Simulation — 40%
Simulation Resources and Environments — 12%

SSH recommends using the official examination blueprint as the primary framework for preparation because every exam question maps to at least one element of it. BodyViz should therefore be viewed as a way to apply selected concepts from that blueprint, rather than as a replacement for official CHSE study resources.

Practice Instructional Design With Real Patient Cases

Educational Principles Applied to Simulation is the largest CHSE domain at 40% of the examination. It includes instructional design, needs assessment, learning objectives, assessment methods, prebriefing, debriefing, scenario design, realism and selection of appropriate resources.

This is where BodyViz provides the clearest opportunity for practical application. Our BodyViz library contains more than 1,000 anatomical studies derived from actual MRI and CT data. Its postgraduate resources also include clinical cases that can combine patient information, vital signs and interactive 3D anatomy, allowing learners to examine a case before developing a diagnosis and explaining their reasoning.

An educator preparing for CHSE certification could use one of these cases as the starting point for an instructional-design exercise. Instead of simply reviewing the anatomy, consider how you would turn the case into an effective learning activity. What should the learner be able to accomplish? What information belongs in the prebrief? Which resources are necessary? How should learner performance be assessed? What questions would encourage reflection after the activity? Thinking through those decisions helps move CHSE preparation from memorizing terminology toward applying educational principles.

Use BodyViz for Pre-Simulation Learning

An effective simulation experience often depends on what learners know before the activity begins. When anatomical knowledge is an important prerequisite, BodyViz can provide structured preparation. The BodyViz Portal includes guided virtual dissections, review activities, quizzes and assessment modules that students can complete in class or independently. Instructors can monitor activity completion and assessment performance through the platform. For a simulation educator, the important question is not simply whether the technology is available. It is when and why to use it.

A BodyViz activity may be useful before a procedure-focused simulation when learners need to understand anatomical landmarks or spatial relationships first. In another scenario, providing too much anatomical information in advance might remove a diagnostic challenge that learners are expected to solve themselves. Those decisions reflect the instructional-design thinking emphasized in the CHSE blueprint.

Bring 3D Anatomy Into Post-Simulation Discussion

BodyViz is not a dedicated debriefing platform, but its visualizations can serve as a useful teaching resource when anatomy becomes relevant during a post-simulation discussion.

If a learner's decision was influenced by an incorrect understanding of anatomical relationships, for example, the instructor could display the relevant structures and examine the reasoning behind the decision. Learners can rotate the anatomy, explore spatial relationships and compare different patient studies rather than relying solely on a textbook illustration.

The goal is not simply to show the correct anatomy. A stronger discussion asks why the learner made the decision, what information influenced that reasoning and how the learner might approach a similar situation in the future. This keeps the emphasis on reflective learning while using visualization to clarify the underlying anatomy.

Think Critically About Simulation Resources

CHSE candidates are also expected to understand simulation resources and environments, including resource utilization, technical and material challenges, administrative factors, innovation and sustainability.

BodyViz provides a useful example for considering those decisions because the platform can be deployed in several learning environments. Students may work with the software individually, instructors can use it during classroom teaching, and institutions can use the BodyViz Anatomy Table for collaborative learning. BodyViz also offers curriculum mapping, instructor training and implementation support.

An educator evaluating a resource like BodyViz might ask whether it supports the learning objectives, how learners will access it, how instructors will be trained, how it integrates with the existing curriculum and whether another modality would better address the educational need. That decision-making process is more valuable for CHSE preparation than simply learning the features of one technology.

Use the Right Tool for the Learning Objective

BodyViz is particularly well suited to learning experiences that depend on anatomical visualization, spatial relationships, real-patient variation, pathology and medical imaging. Other objectives may require different approaches. A task trainer may be more appropriate for repetitive procedural practice. A standardized patient may be preferable when communication or interpersonal skills are central. A manikin-based activity may be appropriate when learners need to manage a changing clinical condition as a team. 

The educator's responsibility is to match the learning objective with the right method and resources. That is also a useful mindset for CHSE preparation: focus on why an educational approach is appropriate rather than simply identifying what technology is available.

Make the CHSE Blueprint Your Starting Point

BodyViz can provide useful material for applying instructional-design and simulation concepts, but the official SSH Examination Blueprint should remain the foundation of CHSE preparation. Start by identifying the knowledge, skills and abilities in the blueprint that require additional study. Then use practical examples from your own simulation environment to apply those concepts.

For BodyViz users, that might mean developing an activity around a real-patient case, deciding how anatomy preparation fits into the learning experience, designing an assessment strategy or evaluating whether 3D visualization is the right resource for a particular objective. Used this way, BodyViz can turn abstract educational concepts into practical teaching decisions, while giving educators another way to connect simulation design with real-patient anatomy.

Explore BodyViz for Healthcare and Simulation Education

BodyViz brings real MRI and CT anatomy into an interactive 3D learning environment that can support anatomy instruction, clinical case learning and selected simulation activities.

See how BodyViz can fit into your healthcare education curriculum and schedule a demonstration with our team.