The convergence of science, engineering, and technology is transforming healthcare delivery. The increasing emphasis on patient-centered care relies on the combined strength of multiple disciplines, requiring a workforce that can leverage a variety of skills for healing, care coordination, and discovery while working effectively as a team. To that end, many academic institutions are rethinking how they educate future healthcare providers by shifting from lecture-based learning to opportunities for practicing skills in realistic settings and scenarios, utilizing hands-on applications and sophisticated simulation technology. This bridge from theory to application is a rapidly developing pedagogy that offers several advantages. For instance, a recent study found that employers noted unprepared students struggle to adapt to clinical environments, highlighting the need for training that better integrates theory with practical experience. Stantec architects and designers have also received qualitative feedback from frontline hospital employers indicating that students benefit from more time in simulation-based training and from practicing necessary skills before they enter their field.
The National Council of State Boards of Nursing also recognized this emerging trend in 2011 and set out to test the hypothesis that simulation can replace traditional clinical experience in prelicensure nursing courses. The results from that 2014 longitudinal study in the Journal of Nursing Regulation found that high-fidelity simulation can effectively replace up to 50% of traditional clinical hours in nursing education without compromising clinical competency, nursing knowledge, or readiness for practice, providing substantial evidence for nursing boards to consider simulation as a viable substitute for clinical experiences.
" }NYU College of Nursing students practice teamwork and communication in a simulation lab.
“The more realistic and effective the training environment is—one that replicates the collaborative work and the actual conditions healthcare professionals will encounter—the greater the confidence it instills in the staff,” said Mark Vaughan, Stantec health planning team leader. He reflects on the feedback he has received, “Many educators receive feedback from young graduates indicating that they feel better prepared when entering the professional realm. They express that this training has given them a deeper understanding and greater confidence to deliver the care expected of them.”
To meet growing demand as health education program enrollment rises, colleges and universities nationwide are incorporating simulation-based learning into health education buildings to support technical skill development, foster collaboration, innovation, engagement, and confidence, reinforce identity, and attract and retain students to high-demand healthcare fields. This requires strategic planning and design of experiential learning space through dedicated simulation rooms and flexible facilities that support program growth, accommodate next-generation equipment, and allow the hands-on practice of new treatments.
" }The University of Texas Medical Branch Health Education Center students engage with a manikin.
The impact of simulation on learning
Simulation-based learning is particularly effective because it helps learners make connections between knowledge and skills. Students can integrate the information they have learned into real-world scenarios, merging their hands-on experience and technical skills with prioritization, critical thinking, and problem-solving. Controlled simulation, in contrast to a clinical rotation, also provides a consistent and uniform experience for all learners.
Simulation is ideal for informal “naturalistic learning” in a social context to reinforce more formally acquired knowledge. A group studying the use of manikins to teach physiological principles in high school, college, and graduate school curricula concluded that the urgency, authenticity, and excitement of making translational connections to traditional classroom sessions increased students’ engagement.
Four key aspects of simulation make it valuable for health education:
- The activity encourages an emotional response that makes the learning experience meaningful and stimulating.
- Students gain confidence through successful simulation, and this personal satisfaction motivates them to identify as future health professionals.
- Participants develop skills in teamwork for problem-solving, leveraging collective knowledge, and listening.
- Students can make mistakes in a safe environment. In this context, the debrief is as essential as the scenario itself, allowing instructors to guide participants in learning from their errors.
In addition to affecting student engagement, our clients often seek to use simulation spaces as an incubator for improved teamwork across disciplines. Their primary objective is training students in a setting that will encourage collaborative behavior in their approach to clinical care, a cooperative attitude, and team-based problem-solving.
Experiential learning through simulation is not limited to traditional health education. The Health Education Center (HEC) at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB) consists of 160,000 square feet of educational space equipped with advanced technology and serves as the home of a new centralized simulation center for the UTMB campus. The HEC promotes interprofessional education in all UTMB schools, which includes nursing, health professions, and medicine, along with professional education for residents, nurses, physicians, and staff. It features flexible and specialized labs, including an OR/ICU suite, a standardized patient suite, and flexible simulation labs for the UTMB health education community. Large learning labs are designed to accommodate various simulation technologies and bring interdisciplinary teams together. These labs integrate simulation and debrief spaces to create an immersive experience for students. The HEC includes large flat-floor classrooms to facilitate “flipped classroom” pedagogy, study spaces, educational offices, and administrative space. These elements help UTMB better manage the growth of its health education programs and enhance exposure to hands-on simulation.
Planning effectively for simulation
As Stantec works with educational teams on new or renovated facilities, we examine the spectrum of potential simulation spaces through the lens of two constructs: the degree of simulation fidelity and the level of student experience. Our clients typically wrestle with the following types of questions:
- Simulation spaces are effective ways to attract new students and interest in a program. When are very transparent, less realistic environments suitable?
- How much high-fidelity, very realistic simulation space is needed? These technologies require a significant investment of resources. Furthermore, direct observation windows reduce the realism of the simulation rooms, but some programs prefer an immediate connection to provide timely feedback between observers and learners.
Nursing students at The University of Texas Medical Branch Health Education Center receive instruction from an educator in a simulation laboratory.
Research shows that there is a strong relationship between learners’ experience and the fidelity of the simulation space. For example, an inexperienced student will learn more from a low-fidelity environment that teaches generic skills, but a more experienced learner needs a more realistic simulation for task refinement.
Research shows that high-quality patient simulations can effectively replace traditional clinical hours while supporting skill development and teamwork among future healthcare professionals. These simulation spaces also serve as hubs for interdisciplinary collaboration and student engagement. Starting in the earliest planning phases, designers and clients should discuss project goals and desired experiences to help inform layouts and access for simulation environments. Strategically designing these spaces can help increase the value of this investment and support learning experiences that reflect real-world healthcare scenarios.
A version of this blog was originally published by Page, now Stantec.
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