The open scenario foundation
The .usim reference
A shared language for the whole simulation.
A scenario holds the patient, the teaching intent, the room, and the events that connect them. The .usim foundation makes that content independent of any one authoring tool, institution, or delivery device.
This reference defines one scenario format, with parameter types, behavior rules, and examples in each chapter. Builder, storage, import, export and AI authoring use the same schema; execution capabilities describe which valid behaviors a simulator can run.
Format elements
Scenario elements, grouped by documentation chapters. Each page defines parameters, behavior rules, and an expandable example.
Start here
Scenario content
- Metadata and authors22 parameter definitions
Separate content identity, contributor credit, revision history, and clinical review.
- Environment and actors7 parameter definitions
Add reproducible setup, actor behavior, communication exchanges, and reset instructions.
- Education and objectives9 parameter definitions
Define prerequisites, observable objectives, assessment criteria, and debrief prompts.
- Procedures3 parameter definitions
Specify preparation, observed performance, outcomes, and complications for procedures.
Patient
- Patient demographics12 parameter definitions
Represent multiple fictional patients without ambiguous age units or demographic assumptions.
- History7 parameter definitions
Make patient information discoverable, with an explicit timeline and disclosure rules.
- Review of systems3 parameter definitions
Represent present, absent, unknown, and unasked symptoms explicitly.
- Physical examination11 parameter definitions
Use observations for findings, with collection, availability, interpretation, and disclosure separated.
- Vital signs5 parameter definitions
Define physiologic variables separately from measured observations and support authored trends.
- ECG5 parameter definitions
Distinguish rhythm, ECG findings, acquisition settings, and a recording.
- Mechanical ventilation3 parameter definitions
Separate airway state, ventilator settings, measured values, and alarms.
- Lines and hemodynamics3 parameter definitions
Give devices identity, placement, function, and associated measurements.
- Active medications4 parameter definitions
Separate a medication definition, order, administration, infusion, and authored response.
- Laboratory data5 parameter definitions
Model orders, specimens, panels, analytes, and serial results separately.
- Images and studies9 parameter definitions
Package portable media with acquisition context and separate interpretations.
Event model
- States11 parameter definitions
Give states explicit entry, exit, effects, and role-specific content; separate phases from concurrent conditions.
- Actions12 parameter definitions
Allow actions to reveal information, perform work, or change a phase, with conditional outcomes and repeat-use rules.
- Objects and results7 parameter definitions
Resources define reusable content and explicit result delivery.
- Timing and state progression9 parameter definitions
Specify deterministic scheduled events, repetition, cancellation, and clock semantics.
- Inheritance and functions9 parameter definitions
Define bounded conditions/effects and reproducible library composition instead of executable script text.
Implementation
Choose the reference for your task.
Fields accepted by Builder, imports, and simulator validation.
Defined in the portable format. Execution capabilities is documented separately.