The Patient Simulation Suite. A Single Dedicated Clinical Simulator Stage Surrounded by Dedicated Control, Observing/Debriefing, Utility, and Office Rooms

This chapter defines the Patient Simulator Suite as one room dedicated to the clinical simulation stage surrounded by rooms dedicated for control, observing/debriefing, utility, and office needs. First presented are the purposes, functional components, and prototypical architectural models for a suite. Second are several example configurations of different clinical environments and how the suite plan can be adapted to accommodate different patient simulator-based teaching needs. Third is a description of an actual suite, which illustrates how the suite principles can be honored within a floor plan that looks very different from the basic model. Effective teaching with any robotic full-body patient simulator will entail the following activities: hands-on teaching and learning with the mannequin, group observation, discussion and debriefing among the teachers and learners, control of the patient simulator, office space for the simulation professionals, and utility space for the nonclinical portions of the simulator plus storage of props and equipment not part of the current scenario. Ideally, these activities will take place in dedicated rooms, located adjacent to each other, but separated by walls and ceilings made of sound- and light-blocking materials. Such a concert of mutually supporting and essential simulation activities distributed into adjacent rooms could be called a patient simulation suite.