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 and have become integral to learners’ medical education within such clinical education buildings, medical centers, or training facilities devoted to healthcare simulation. Each new healthcare simulation center that opens provides even greater opportunities for learners to gain the skills and experience necessary to perform in the field and prioritize patient safety. This HealthySimulation.com article shares the most recent updates announced from various healthcare simulation centers around the world as of August 2022.
College of The Albemarle Receives Funding Approval to Build Simulation Center
According to OBX Today, the College of The Albemarle (COA) recently received approval from the Pasquotank County Board of Commissioners for $11M to build a healthcare sciences expansion and clinical simulation center. This approval follows the state’s recent allocation of $12.5M in the adjusted state budget toward funding such a healthcare simulation center. The outlet reported that the COA will also utilize an additional $1.5M through the Connect NC Bond funds allocated to the college in 2016 and that the combined funding will support the total cost of the project which is approximately $25M.
“College of The Albemarle is appreciative of the support received from Senator Steinburg, Representative Hanig, and the entire North Carolina General Assembly in this effort,” stated Dr. Jack Bagwell, COA President. “Our Pasquotank Board of Commissioners have also demonstrated their unequivocal support of this facility expansion and recognize how critical the project is to ensure quality healthcare continues in this region. We are extremely proud of the legislative and local government support in this endeavor and are committed to providing highly qualified healthcare professionals for our region and state.”
New York Hospital Opens Baby Simulation Center
According to Becker’s Hospital Review, Elmhurst Hospital in the Queens borough of New York City (a part of NYC Health + Hospitals) recently opened a new mother-baby training simulation center meant to reduce adverse maternal outcomes during childbirth, particularly among women of color, Queens Courier reported. The $250,000 lab consists of two rooms where obstetrician teams train with a mannequin of color and a mannequin infant, and the healthcare simulations mimic life-threatening conditions that can occur during labor and birth, such as maternal hemorrhage, hypertensive urgencies, and neonatal resuscitation.
“Having an on-site OB sim lab at NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst is critical for so many of our patients, who often come from underserved communities and have high-risk pregnancies,” said Helen Arteaga Landaverde, the hospital’s CEO. “Our staff is very excited to expand Elmhurst’s mission of eliminating health disparities and ensuring good outcomes for new moms and their babies,” she told the news outlet.
UAMS Simulation Center Aims to Combat Nursing Shortage
According to the Norwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, a new 3,400-square-foot healthcare simulation center at the UAMS Northwest campus will eventually be used by all UAMS learners in Fayetteville to supplement classroom learning and clinical settings. Features of the sim center will include 12 patient beds, patient simulator manikins, a fingerprint-activated Pyxis medication access system, control rooms, conference rooms, and opportunities for specific skills training and video learning sessions with Little Rock classes. The report adds that UAMS developed a similar simulation center at the university’s Little Rock campus.
“By using advanced technology to imitate real-life medical situations, simulation education acts as a bridge between classroom learning and clinical experience,” said Lauren Haggard-Duff, clinical associate professor and director of UAMS’ new accelerated bachelor of science in the nursing program. “Students can receive advanced training in a setting that allows them to receive real-time feedback from their instructors and standardized patients.”
Franciscan Health to Open Medical Simulation Center
Franciscan Health Olympia Fields announced plans to open a medical simulation center within the next year, depending on funding. Patch reports that, according to Matthew Brown, MD ( the designated institutional officer for Franciscan Health’s graduate medical education program in Olympia Fields), the healthcare simulation center will include workstations that simulate specific technologies so providers can practice physical skills and develop muscle memory specific to that equipment.
Further, education in the center will range from teaching basic skills to the appropriate response to codes to the placement of defibrillators and more. Developing and honing these skills will have a direct, positive impact on those served by Franciscan Health, the report stated.
Argentine Society of Diabetes Opens Clinical Simulation Center
According to Nation World News, the Argentine Society of Diabetes inaugurated a Clinical Simulation Center, which was designed and corrected in coordination with the clinical simulation team of the Faculty of Medicine of the Universidad Nacional del Nordesté. The healthcare simulation center will be available for all educational and educational activities of the society and aims to encourage learning through innovative tools, which will allow learners to acquire skills, abilities, and knowledge in real-time. The goal is to promote the practice and performance of procedures, reducing the likelihood of errors and promoting teamwork and the safety of all patients.
Spectrum Health Breaks Ground on Simulation Center
Spectrum Health recently broke ground on a new 12-story patient care building in downtown Grand Rapids that will house several outpatient services, MLive.com reports. The new facility will have a clinical simulation center to train physicians and will be located at 251 Michigan St., (at the former site of the Cook Institute). The goal is to provide physicians and caregivers with applied experiential learning and hands-on, innovative technology, according to a release. The center is expected to open in late 2024.
“With a simulation center and educational resources for physicians and other caregivers, along with specialty care and an emphasis on physician and team member well-being, this facility will help us care for current patient needs and prepare for the future,” said Dr. Darryl Elmouchi, president of BHSH Spectrum Health West Michigan, in a statement. “We thank everyone who helped make this project a reality.”
According to Alvernia University, the school received $1 million from the County of Berks to assist in the $6.4 million expansion of the university’s nursing program, a key component to the second phase of the renovation of the newly named John R. Post Center at Reading CollegeTowne. The project will address the need for RNs in the local health care industry by relocating, expanding, and modernizing Alvernia’s School of Nursing. The proposed project would add over 25,000 sq. ft of classroom and lab space, including a new Healthcare Simulation Center. The state-of-the-art simulation facilities will enhance Alvernia’s accredited professional undergraduate and graduate nursing degree programs.
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 healthcare 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 are 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 primarily found in large medical centers and universities. Funding for simulation centers can come 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.
