Simulation Suite and Extended Reality Lab

Simulation training allows for improved quality in patient care and patient safety. Sessions can cover a range of non-technical skills such as clinical reasoning and decision making, team working and communication along with technical skills such as the management of specific clinical conditions, clinical reasoning, and patient examination.

The UHNM simulation team can help you develop and deliver high quality clinical simulation within the hospital's Extended Reality Lab (ERL), based at the Post Graduate Medical Centre, County Hospital. Their expertise can help you with designing and running simulation activities to meet educational curricula, training, or patient safety requirements.

The ERL has been designed to be a flexible immersive learning environment to suit the user’s requirements. It can replicate any environment to recreate an immersive experience for participants. Together with the viewing gallery, which allows remote observation into the ERL, it’s a great safe learning environment for any simulation training.

Sim Suite and ERL

 ERL Sim Suite is located at the PGMC County hospital.

The ERL enables any 360-degree picture or video to be projected on its four walls, together with sound and lighting it means it can recreate any environment and time of day. Props are added to the room to enable participants to carry out the scenario set for them. So, for example if the scenario was set in ED, a scene of the Resus Bay will be showing on the walls, sounds from ED will be played into the room, there will be a patient on trolley, monitoring equipment and all the clinical equipment necessary to perform the scenario.

For scenarios that involve acute deterioration of the patient or involve invasive procedures a manikin is used which has a high degree of interaction (speaks, breaths, has pulses, heart and breath sounds, etc), for more communication-based scenarios we would use an actor.

As part of the sim suite there is a special observation room which enables group members to watch and hear what is happening in the ERL. This room accommodates 12 people.

The ERL can be live streamed to any room across the PGMC and externally via an internet connection facilitating hybrid or virtual events.

Podcast and film room

We also have a sound proofed recording studio with green screen. This can be used for any type of audio-visual recordings from podcasts and presentations to demo videos. Maximum capacity for this room is 4. Please get in touch for any further information.

Simulation Lead: Biju Jose

Senior Simulation Educator: Malcolm Smith

Malcolm initially trained as a nurse at UHNM and then moved to Leicester to work in ITU. He has worked in simulation-based education for over 10 years and has a wealth of experience in delivering both transformational and educational based simulation, running courses to meet the need of undergraduate and postgraduate medical curricular along with in-situ simulation to meet patient safety or training needs. He has post-graduate qualifications in both Medical Education and Human Factors and is passionate about patient safety and the role simulation can play in this.

Simulation Fellow: Dr Ying Yeo

Dr Ying Yeo graduated from University of Liverpool in 2018, and since completed the IMT training programme and gained a PGcert in Medical Education. She joined the team in December 2023 and has led the development of the F2 Simulation course and is undertaking an impact assessment of the Mental Capacity simulations run in the centre.

 Simulation Technician: Aimee Allen

Aimee has been working in the simulation suite since 2021. She started at UHNM working in the library and has since become proficient at supporting simulation courses and managing all technical aspects of the sim suite and recording studio. Aimee particularly enjoys bringing a little bit of realism to the simulations with moulage, using art and special effects makeup to replicate various disease processes and injuries

Simulation/Resus Technician: Matt Stevens

Matt Joined the team in November 2023 from Clinical Technology and has worked in the NHS for over 13 years. He works alongside Aimee to support simulation and provide safe environment to develop clinical and non-clinical skills. His role is split, and he also supports national resuscitation and trauma courses run at the County Post-graduate Medical Centre.

Contact email: simulation@uhnm.nhs.uk

Contact phone number: 01785 230634

National Framework for Simulation Based Education