The Simulation Technologies Program (STP) resides on the third floor of Medical Research Building IV, offering facilities, technical resources, and an engineering staff to support a vast array of event-driven scenarios, challenging and developing the knowledge and skills of EMTs, nurses, medical students, residents, and practicing physicians.

The versatile design of the STP facilities, with two separate and complete control rooms, permits concurrent events tailored as specified to differing specialties and levels of proficiency.  On any given day, a visitor might observe activities in two Operating Rooms, a six-bed Emergency Department, a four-bed Intensive Care Unit, or any combination of these, utilizing mannequins configured to the requirements of the scenario.  

While the STP staff supports complex scenarios in the suites, the same visitor could see surgical residents honing skills on Virtual Reality (VR) simulators in the adjacent VR training room, available 24/7, under card swipe access.  VR simulators and partial-task trainers prepare learners for advanced medical procedures, and they reinforce the skills and mental concentration demanded when working in a three-dimensional field, with only two-dimensional visuals. 

While residing on the third floor of MRB IV, STP is mobile.  Regularly, STP staff engineers move lights, cameras, computers, and mannequins to Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital for in-situ simulations.  Using the patient-mannequins in an actual clinical space enhances their realism, while serving critical professional staff who must remain available to immediately respond to a real-world requirement.