HNE Simulation Centre
The HNE Simulation Centre delivers training to several thousand healthcare professionals each year and is one of the longest running simulation centres in Australia.
Our faculty are passionate about enhancing patient safety through simulation training and research and offer a wide range of training addressing clinical and non-clinical challenges, as well as instructor training and development programs.
Research
Our multidisciplinary faculty have a track record in innovation and research. We conduct human factors research that aims to improve patient safety by developing new tools and guidelines to use in clinical practice, particularly in emergency situations, and testing new processes and equipment prior to their implementation into clinical practice. We use in situ simulation as a research and quality improvement tool to analyse equipment and environments at the design and pre-commissioning stages, and to identify latent safety threats in existing spaces. We are interested in resilient health care and understanding how expertise contributes to the capacity of a system to respond to challenges. We also conduct research into why and how simulation works as a teaching tool and are particularly interested in understanding which elements of a clinical encounter should be retained in a simulated encounter.
Support for Simulation
The centre also provides support for simulation-based training including instructor and faculty development, curriculum development and evaluation, and advice regarding the establishment and running of simulation centres.
Our vision
Safer health care through training and research excellence in the field of simulation.
Our mission
Our goal is to enhance patient safety and clinical outcomes by integrating innovative clinical training using simulation based techniques with research that explores individuals, teams and systems.
Who we are
Established in 2002, the HNE Simulation Centre is one of the longest running centres in Australia. The centre underwent a major refurbishment in 2013 and is a state of the art facility with the latest equipment and a replica emergency department/ward/intensive care unit and operating theatre.
View the HNE Simulation Centre overview
The HNE Simulation Centre is a world class inter professional, multi disciplinary, educational facility that delivers simulation based team training to several thousand participants per year.
The centre is supported by a team of specialist doctors and senior nurses who are certified simulation instructors and are clinically active in the specialty areas of anaesthesia, intensive care (adult, paediatric and neonatal) and emergency medicine. Our faculty are passionate about enhancing patient safety through simulation training and research.
What we do
Training
We provide simulation-based training that addresses clinical and non-clinical challenges with the overall aim of enhancing patient and staff safety, minimising adverse events, and ensuring fitness to function as part of a team.
Research
Our multidisciplinary faculty have a track record in innovation and research. We conduct human factors research that aims to improve patient safety by developing new tools and guidelines to use in clinical practice, particularly in emergency situations, and testing new processes and equipment prior to their implementation into clinical practice. We use in situ simulation as a research and quality improvement tool to analyse equipment and environments at the design and pre-commissioning stages, and to identify latent safety threats in existing spaces. We are interested in resilient health care and understanding how expertise contributes to the capacity of a system to respond to challenges. We also conduct research into why and how simulation works as a teaching tool and are particularly interested in understanding which elements of a clinical encounter should be retained in a simulated encounter.
Quality and Safety
The HNE Simulation Centre uses simulation for training, quality improvement and research in order to enhance patient safety and clinical outcomes. Simulation is used to test equipment, systems and environments.
Our facility
Our facility is a highly flexible space that incorporates two clinical simulation spaces (emergency department/intensive care unit and an operating theatre) and five flexible areas, including two debriefing rooms suitable for advanced communications training.
The centre is supported by a fully integrated audio-visual system to capture vision, sound, instructor and course details.
Support for simulation
The simulation centre also provides support for simulation based training including instructor and faculty development, curriculum development and evaluation, and advice regarding the establishment and running of simulation centres.
Our equipment
Our family of Laerdal newborn, infant, child and adult mannequins includes SimNewB®, SimBaby®, SimJunior®, SimMan®, SimMan3G® and SimMom®.
We also have a family of METI mannequins including PediaSIM ECS, PediaSIM HPS and METI HPS. The ultra-sophisticated METI HPS is one of only three in NSW, and PediaSIM HPS is one of only two in Australia and New Zealand. These are the only simulators on the current market able to respond to the administration of real anaesthetic gases, and to provide respiratory gas exchange.
Clinical equipment in our replica operating theatre, ICU/emergency department
and wards includes:
- piped gases
- Sonosite M-turbo ultrasound
- GE Aisys electronic anaesthesia machine
- fibre-optic and video bronchoscopes
- video-laryngoscopes
- defibrillators
- warming devices
- infusion pumps
- ventilators
Other specialised educational equipment includes:
- Ventriloscope (transmits heart & lung sounds to a realistic stethoscope receiver)
- iSimulate (a pair of iPads that operate as a patient monitor and instructor controller for mobile use, or use with standardised patients)
- Smartboards and video-conferencing facilities