New Clinical Simulation Center Updates | May 2022
Healthcare simulation centers are constantly being unveiled and upgraded across the United States and globally. As technology progresses, these clinical spaces are able to help transform how medical education and training are completed. These spaces have become integral to a learner’s medical education within a clinical education building, medical center, or training facility which is devoted to healthcare simulation. This HealthySimulation.com article shares updates announced from various healthcare simulation centers around the world.
Saginaw Valley State University Announces Improvements to Nursing Simulation Center
Approximately $1.75 million in funding from a Michigan Enhancement Grant will be used for an up to $2 million investment to improve Saginaw Valley State University nursing simulation center. According to M Live, SVSU will contribute $250,000 toward the project from existing reserves for capital projects. The school’s nursing simulation center is located in the Health and Human Service building and it includes patient care labs, an ortho rehab lab, debriefing rooms, a pediatric lab, and more.
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NYC Health + Hospitals Simulation Center Host Fifth Annual Simulation Symposium
NYC Health + Hospitals hosted the fifth annual simulation symposium on Wednesday, April 27. The event “used simulation-based education and advanced learning to help improve patient outcomes in the area of health equity, particularly among patients from underserved and underrepresented communities.” Keynote speakers included Jennifer Arnold, MD, MSc, FAAP, Medical Director at Boston Children’s Hospital Simulator Program and star of TLC’s “The Little Couple”; Michelle Morse, MD, MPH, Chief Medical Officer and Deputy Commissioner for the Center for Health Equity and Community Wellness at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene; Kelly Davis, MPH, Executive Director of New Voices of Reproductive Justice; and Desiree Díaz, Ph.D., APRN, FNP-BC, CNE, CHSE-A, ANEF, FAAN, Co-Founder and CEO of Kinshift.
New State-Of-The-Art St. John’s University Facility to Feature SImulation Suites
New York Governor Kathy Hochul and St. John’s University announced the groundbreaking of St. John’s University’s $106 million Health Sciences Center in May 2022. This will be a new 70,000 square foot energy-efficient academic building with classrooms, laboratories, simulation suites, office space, collaborative spaces, and outdoor terraces. The new Health Sciences Center is anticipated to open in Fall 2024 and will be the permanent home of the new undergraduate nursing program at St. John’s University. “St. John’s University will use simulation components to sharpen students’ disciplinary knowledge using acute care patient scenarios.”
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Renovations Approved to Create IU Nursing Simulation Center
The Indiana University Board of Trustees has approved a renovation project to create a new Nursing Simulation and Health Sciences Education Center on the IU South Bend campus. The first and second floors of Parkside Hall on the IU South Bend campus, totaling approximately 20,400 gross square feet, will be renovated to house the Dwyer Healthcare Simulation Center. The goal of the center will be to “provide consolidated and cohesive health sciences education in nursing and radiography while also accommodating future growth to meet regional demand for highly trained health care professionals.”
St. E’s Unveils New Simulation Center
CHI Health unveiled its new Simulation Center for Global Excellence at CHI Health St. Elizabeth in Lincoln in May. The clinical simulation center was designed to allow both Purdue University Global students and CHI Health St. Elizabeth employees to face real-world scenarios from the safety of a classroom “to help them better prepare to care for patients in the future.” According to the Lincoln Star Journal, another feature of the center is the high-fidelity manikins, including specialized female and infant manikins.
AdventHealth Palm Coast Opens New Training Simulation Center
According to The Daytona Beach News-Journal, AdventHealth Palm Coast now has a high-tech training facility for nurses with “leading-edge” simulation technology. The facility will train approximately 140 nurses per month from the hospital system and nursing students from the University of North Florida and Jacksonville University. The facility will train approximately 140 nurses per month from the hospital system and nursing students from the University of North Florida and Jacksonville University.
Margulies Perruzzi Completes Simulation Center for Lahey Hospital & Medical Center
One of New England’s architecture and interior design firms, Margulies Perruzzi announced that it has completed work on a 4,000 SF simulation lab for Lahey Hospital & Medical Center (LHMC) in Burlington, Mass., a world-renowned tertiary academic medical center known for its innovative technology, pioneering medical treatment, and leading-edge research. At LHMC’s Professional Development and Samuel and Nancy Jo Altschuler Simulation Center, providers are able to work in a realistic health care setting using the latest technology and training methods to advance their education and training. Simulators provide a structured learning experience and allow providers to practice new skills and procedures without risk to patients.
More About Clinical Simulation Centers
Building a healthcare simulation center involves a huge amount of planning. All the stakeholders must come together and have input into the construction. The technical logistics and equipment are complex. For example, some simulation centers have simulation laboratories that exactly mimic an operating room, a delivery room, an emergency department, a medical-surgical floor room, an ICU room, etc. Experts from medical specialties and educators need to have input into the planning phase of the construction. Once the construction is complete, funds will be needed for ongoing maintenance, repair, and replacement of equipment as the facility ages.
In many medical simulation training centers, the observation room serves as the debriefing room. In addition, there is usually a separate control room where the simulation technician sits. This is the person dubbed a Simulation Technology Specialist who remotely controls the manikin, such as the Laerdal SimMan3G, and who is responsible for setting up all the equipment and applying any special effects medical makeup called Moulage.
In addition, a clinical educator will be present in the control room. The educator, who often speaks the voice of the manikin controls the physiological and spoken responses of the manikin usually in response to the interventions of the learners within the sim lab. The setup below would be typical for a small simulation center:
Imagine a large-scale healthcare simulation center with multiple sim labs, control rooms, and debriefing. Add in patient examination rooms with standardized patients, rooms full of task trainers, banks of computers, and conference facilities, and the simulation center could easily occupy thousands of square feet.
These medical simulation centers cost millions of dollars to build and operate and are only found in large medical centers and universities. Funding for simulation centers comes from donations, grants, and university/medical center funding. Some simulation centers generate funds by renting out their spaces to other institutions or offering courses for which they charge a fee.
Learn More About Clinical Simulation Centers
Lance Baily, BA, EMT-B, is the Founder & CEO of HealthySimulation.com, which he started while serving as the Director of the Nevada System of Higher Education’s Clinical Simulation Center of Las Vegas back in 2010. Lance is also the Founder and acting Advisor to the Board of SimGHOSTS.org, the world’s only non-profit organization dedicated to supporting professionals operating healthcare simulation technologies. His co-edited Book: “Comprehensive Healthcare Simulation: Operations, Technology, and Innovative Practice” is cited as a key source for professional certification in the industry. Lance’s background also includes serving as a Simulation Technology Specialist for the LA Community College District, EMS fire fighting, Hollywood movie production, rescue diving, and global travel. He and his wife Abigail Baily, PhD live in Las Vegas, Nevada with their two amazing daughters.
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