Simulation Suites
Health and social care simulation suite.
Housed in the Mary Seacole building, our state of the art healthcare simulation suite was designed by architects specialising in modern healthcare environments. It offers the best facilities in the North West for students to learn the practical skills associated with health and social care. And, as the benefits of simulation become clearer, the suite is increasingly in use by other university departments such as social work, psychology and criminology for teaching, training and research purposes.
Training Staff for Nightingale North West
To support the opening of the NHS Nightingale Hospital North West, a key facility in the region’s response to Covid-19, the University sim suites were used to provide staff with bespoke training. The training was designed to cover topics including use of Personal Protective Equipment, assisted breathing techniques, communication and refreshing clinical skills.
Commerical Opportunities
Commercially the suite offers local SMEs a place to test healthcare products and services, gives training companies a space in which to deliver relevant CPD courses and provides television and film production companies with a peerless hospital ward location that has been used in dramas such as The Stranger, Bancroft and The A- Word.
The environment
Within the suite there are a number of hospital rooms that can be used for a range of scenarios such as three-bedded adult bay, two-bedded children's bay, two side rooms, treatment room, day room, bathrooms, midwifery labour room and midwifery home room.
Flooring, beds, cots, chairs, patient lockers and all clinical equipment such as needles, syringes and fluid giving sets are sourced from NHS suppliers and each bed space has simulated oxygen and suction, nurse call buttons, emergency buzzers, name boards and bed lights.
Self contained with a secure swipe card entry system and nurse station, the simulation suite provides health and social care students with their first taste of responding to patients’ needs in a number of scenarios and prepares them thoroughly for the real world placements that are a critical part of their study programme.
Finally there is a space within the suite that is laid out as a replica of a flat. Featuring a living area, bedroom, bathroom and kitchen it provides a realistic environment for health and social care students to practice home visits and assessments.
The manikins
The suite also features nine human patient simulator manikins including:
- SimMom®
- SimMan3G®
- SimJunior®
- SimNewB®
- SimBaby®
The manikins are extremely advanced and have a number of realistic functions including palpable pulses, breath, heart and bowel sounds. They can pass urine, be catheterised and have fluids and drugs administered. Operated by experienced simulation technicians from control rooms featuring one way glass, the manikins can be set up to simulate specific clinical conditions such as cardiac arrest, pneumonia, major trauma and seizures offering an unrivalled learning opportunity for our students.
Audio-Visual and immersive technology
Immersive interactive learning scenarios can be streamed, recorded and played back via a multi-camera and microphone system allowing different views and close-ups of procedures to be achieved, while the manikins can be voiced to respond to the student’s actions as they carry out clinical interventions.
A recent addition to the suite is the immersive interactive simulation room. This room combines a series of projectors with audio equipment enabling us to transform the space into a variety of locations such as the back of an ambulance or a nightclub, a prison cell or family home.