Simulator Facilities
The Simulator Program at Boston Children's Hospital is an "on-site" program in which the simulation suite is a dual-purpose simulation laboratory and procedure room with an adjacent control room and conference room The convenient location allows for a significant increase in repetitive, sequential skill development for clinicians with minimal interruption to their daily work routines.
The laboratory is outfitted with gas outlets, medical equipment, a lung simulator, and several patient simulators: a Laerdal SimBabyTM, SimManTM, and METI PediaSim - the tools to expose trainees to a wide range of clinical scenarios from neonatology to adolescence. Closed-circuit television links the simulated patient room to a conference room where didactic lectures and (video-based) debriefing sessions occur.
Simulation-enhanced educational programs are conducted in both the simulation suite and also through various actual clinical environments throughout the hospital with the aid of mobile simulation equipment. Additionally, under the direction of nursing staff development, a second simulation suite is utilized to train new nursing graduates in pediatric nursing.
Tour the SimLab
The simulation suite is a dual-purpose simulation laboratory / procedure room modeled after an actual ICU bed space. It is located within the Medical-Surgical ICU which ensures that participating staff can focus on their skill development with minimal interruption to their work schedule. The room is fully equipped with all the necessary medical equipment, as well as multiple gas outlets and several patient simulators. The variety of simulators allows for an extensive range of clinical scenarios ranging from neonatology to adolescence. The room is monitored via closed-circuit television and all relevant audio/visual information is sent to an adjacent control room where it is recorded and stored.
The control room operates as the command center for the simulation department. Its multi-purpose function is to simultaneously record, store and control all aspects of the simulation scenario. The room is outfitted with several computers all serving as a control hub for specific patient simulators, audio/visual systems or communication equipment. Upon the completion of a simulation session, all video data is saved and broadcasted directly to a near by conference room for debriefing purposes.
For clinicians who work far from the ICU the availability of the suite, while on site, is still too far for convenient use as part of their daily work routine. Furthermore, the simulation laboratory most closely emulates the ICU environment, but is somewhat less realistic for clinicians from other clinical areas. In order to increase opportunities for simulation-based learning for all hospital clinicians, we created a mobile simulation unit to bring ultra high fidelity simulation training programs anywhere within the hospital allowing full teams who regularly work together to practice in their actual clinical environment providing "in-situ" simulation. The mobile simulation unit is easily transported into actual clinical areas and includes audio-visual equipment for use with a mobile human patient simulator or professional actors.
