Planning on building the ultimate simulation center? Look no further for an example of how it should be done! The University of Miami School of Nursing and Health Studies (UM SONHS) has just opened a five story state-of-the-art simulation hospital in Coral Gables, Florida.
The Dean of UM SONHS, Cindy L. Munro, PhD, RN, believes that the UM Simulation Center is a unique institution that will not only prepare health science students for clinical practice, but will also function as an international global center for product design, development of simulation pedagogies, interdisciplinary education and disaster preparedness. The center plans to generate protocols for catastrophic events such as mass-casualties and infectious disease outbreaks. In addition, the university plans to liaise with industrial partners to research and develop new technology for the healthcare field.
The building consists of 5 floors with the ground floor housing examination rooms for healthcare students working with standardized patients and an emergency department complete with ambulance bays. In addition to ED personnel training, this floor will be used for mass casualties and natural disaster simulation exercises. The second floor includes a 300-seat auditorium, classrooms, offices and videoconferencing capabilities. The third floor contains specialized hospital areas which include OB delivery unit, newborn nursery, pediatric unit, neonatal intensive care unit and fully-functioning operating rooms. Drake Systems Group Inc. was the AV Design Consultant for the project, who contracted through MGE Architects.
The UM wanted to include care of the patient throughout the lifespan and in the home setting and so on the the fourth floor, the building includes a hospice and home health center. In addition, the fourth floor contains, med-surg, critical care and telemetry units. Finally on the fifth floor, the Helene Fuld Skills Resource Center contains three clinical skills labs.
The 41,000-square-foot building was funded in part by a donation of $17,000,000 from the Helene Fuld Health Trust. The groundbreaking the building occurred in November 2015 and the cost was $18,000,000. The Simulation Hospital Inaugural Symposium occurred September 29, 2017.
Interestingly, the new Nursing simulation hospital is not the only University of Miami simulation facility. The Medical school has its own Gordon Center a 34,000 sq.ft. state-of-the-art facility, with the capability for simulation and computer design engineering, production and manufacturing. This facility includes a high technology auditorium, self-learning laboratory, standardized patient training area, actual rescue vehicle, car for extrication of trauma victims, disaster response decontamination showers and mock emergency department. In addition, the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and Jackson Health System have joined forces to create the Center for Patient Safety, a leading resource for simulation-based education and research focusing on preventing errors and improving patient safety. The centers 8,OOO-square-foot facility comprises more than 2,000 square feet of space dedicated to simulation-based training.
Today’s article was guest authored by Kim Baily PhD, MSN, RN, CNE, Simulation Coordinator for Los Angeles Harbor College. Over the past 15 years Kim has developed and implemented several college simulation programs and currently chairs the Southern California Simulation Collaborative.
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