When Hollywood Inspires Medicine: New Concepts in the Design and Architecture of Medical Simulation Facilities to Support Inter-Professional Healthcare Education and Training

The changing landscape of healthcare education, delivery, and technology is placing new demands for significant inter-disciplinary and inter-professional training in medical simulation. New architectural concepts and building designs must ensure that large-scale healthcare simulation facilities offer customized training opportunities for nursing, medicine, public health, and pharmacy while allowing for maximal flexibility and adaptation across nearly fifty different user groups and stake holders. A novel concept of a larger, configurable “stage” design, more akin to a Hollywood production studio, with in-patient and out-patient suites seen as temporary or “standing” sets was created. The stage, called a “Sim Deck,” can be easily dismantled while providing ample square footage for mass casualty scenarios. The facility required significant technological support to provide remote simulation training via existing and future telemedical technologies as well as remaining nimble enough to incorporate technologies in augmented and virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and large-scale learner management systems.