The bold vision to create a facility capable of shifting the landscape of health care education and practice manifests on Thursday, September 28, when the School of Nursing and Health Studies’ (SONHS) Simulation Hospital officially opens its doors. University President Julio Frenk and new SONHS Dean Cindy Munro will welcome some 250 special guests and media, and highlight the benefits of this five-story, 41,000-square-foot, fully equipped state-of-the-art building.
“The Simulation Hospital will replicate a hospital as well as a fully functioning health care system, which makes it a powerful concept, unique among simulation-based health care education programs worldwide,” Munro said in anticipation of the dedication ceremony.
The facility will, in fact, be among the largest and most advanced simulation hospitals of its kind in the United States and the world.
“While simulation has been around for years, the new hospital represents an exponentially bigger piece of the educational experience—similar to me learning to use a slide rule in high school and now having a super computer,” Munro said.
In a press release, President Frenk acknowledged the SONHS’ leadership, past and present, who conceptualized and helped drive the hospital’s completion. “Our Simulation Hospital is an exciting example of education innovation at its most tangible and humane level,” he said. “Students, health professionals, and patients throughout the hemisphere will benefit from this revolutionary learning facility.”
Former SONHS Dean Nilda (Nena) Peragallo Montano is credited with providing the vision, leading the fundraising efforts, and for convening UM leadership, administrators, architects, and engineers to advance the hospital’s construction. Associate Dean Anne E. Norris, while serving as interim dean, navigated the project through the construction phase. Now Munro stands ready to usher in a new era in health care education at the University.
Groundbreaking for the facility took place in November 2015, and while construction moved relatively quickly, Hurricane Irma threatened to delay the dedication ceremony, interrupting the last phase of construction preparations these past few weeks.
The timing of the hospital’s debut and the storm is ironically apropos. Irma ripped through South Florida, leaving a wake of damage, injuries, and even death, and, while nature can never be entirely controlled, the Simulation Hospital offers an ideal environment to practice and prepare for just such a disaster—whether natural or man-made. Among the many benefits the hospital will offer is a venue for community partners, corporate partners, and different University departments to convene to develop rapid and effective responses to emerging infectious diseases, disaster, terrorism—and hurricanes.
As part of the dedication ceremony, invited guests will follow self-guided tours, witness simulation demonstrations, and learn the benefits of simulated care in eight different rooms staggered throughout the five-floor facility. They will also see a dramatic presentation in the 280-seat auditorium of a “real” medical crisis scenario.
The Simulation Hospital will serve as a hub for students, health care professionals, first responders and corporate partners to design, test, and master skills and technologies to transform health care education, research, and practice.
The dedication ceremony is at capacity, but students, faculty, staff, and members of the community are encouraged to attend the Simulation Hospital Inaugural Symposium on Friday, September 29, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. in the hospital’s second-floor auditorium. The session, titled “A Response to the Call for Radical Transformation,” facilitates “a dialogue on real-world challenges and innovative solutions for improved disaster response and patient-care experiences” with an array of guest speakers.
To register, visit www.sonhs.miami.edu/InauguralSymposium
To learn more about the new Simulation Hospital, visit #http://simhospital.sonhs.miami.edu/index.html
