Becker’s is proud to name 34 hospitals and health systems with great simulation and education programs, which provide students and professionals with the opportunity to develop necessary skills in realistic yet controlled environments.
Hospitals and health systems with simulation and education programs see improved patient outcomes, reduced healthcare costs and enhanced patient safety. The following programs offer cutting-edge technologies, lifelike scenarios and safe environments that build provider confidence through practical application.
Note: This list is not an endorsement of included programs, hospitals, health systems, or associated healthcare providers. Organizations cannot pay for inclusion on this list. Hospitals and health systems are presented in alphabetical order.
We accepted nominations for this list. Please contact Anna Falvey at afalvey@beckershealthcare.com with any questions or comments.
Atlantic Health System (Morristown, N.J.). The Gagnon Institute of Bioskills Training and Innovation at Morristown Medical Center, part of Atlantic Health System, is an American College of Surgeons Level 1 Comprehensive Education Institute providing simulation training opportunities across multiple disciplines. Simulation resources include neonatal resuscitation training, a robotic surgery simulator, a laparoscopic trainer, code training equipment and more. Currently, the center is undergoing modernization to replicate the emergency department trauma bay, an operating room, intensive care room and flexible patient examination room.
Atrium Health (Charlotte, N.C.). Atrium has played an important role in advancing medical education for nearly 20 years. Originally, its simulation center offered simulation-based training to a diverse range of individuals. Its commitment to experiential learning expands the entire healthcare continuum. Its training programs expand not just to the needs of the Atrium community, but to healthcare providers and community groups across the region. The Carolinas Simulation Center provides a safe learning environment with state-of-the-art equipment. In the interactive learning space, learners can hone technical skills, improve decision making and ultimately improve patient care. The simulation center has had an impact on patient safety in several ways. Clinicians are trained in trauma, behavioral health and de-escalation techniques. The simulation center has earned accreditations from the American College of Surgeons and the Society for Simulation in Healthcare. The program recently engaged in a collaborative partnership with the Atrium Health Women’s Care Division to support a mobile simulation vehicle, set to launch in 2024. The program has also introduced a novel service line that provides participants with virtual simulation experiences using recorded simulation vignettes.
Boston Children’s Hospital. Boston Children’s Hospital Immersive Design Systems is a full scale design lab for training, systems engineering and rapid-prototyping with a human-centered approach. In fiscal year 2022, IDS successfully delivered 953 simulations to over 4,500 attendees. Simulation resources includes suicide risk assessment, nasogastric tube changing and replacement, virtual and augmented reality, and 3D printed and organic modeling of patient anatomy for pre-surgical planning. The IDS engineering team is heavily involved in the design and 3D printing of high-fidelity training tools, procedure simulators, and patient treatments such as a hand splint. Recently, the team created unique simulators which led to FDA clearance for an in-utero Vein of Galen Malformation procedure, which led to the first-time treatment of in-utero VOGM.
Brigham and Women’s Hospital (Boston). At Brigham and Women’s Hospital, the Neil and Elise Wallace STRATUS Center for Medical Simulation educates undergraduate, graduate, medical and nursing students, as well as allied health clinicians and other providers. The program employs scenario-based and screen-based simulation, virtual and extended reality, standardized patients and more. Ultimately, the training serves to enhance hospital processes and quality. At the core of the simulation center is research, as STRATUS aims to become an international leader in human factors and cognitive engineering sciences as applicable to healthcare. Funded by NIH, NASA and others, the Human Factors and Cognitive Engineering lab at STRATUS uses leading-edge technologies like high-fidelity simulation, digital biomarkers, AI and machine learning, and wearable sensors in order to advance patient safety and clinical outcomes.
Cedars Sinai Medical Center (Los Angeles). The Simulation Center at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is integrated into all residency and fellowship programs to provide simulation-based education. The Women’s Guild Simulation Center for Advanced Clinical Skills meets the highest educational standards and offers professionals safe, proactive exposure to the clinical environment, as well as the latest patient simulators and medical devices. For instance, the Women’s Guild Simulation Center homes an anatomical simulator and 13 robotic mannequins that can simulate giving birth. The simulation center provides leadership and management training, simulation consulting to help other institutions develop their own programs, medical device and market testing, anesthesiology certification simulation training, and much more. The simulation center trains over 20,000 students annually.
Christus Health (Irving, Texas). The Christus Simulation Institute is Christus Health’s network of six simulation centers, which allow providers to practice handling clinical situations and potential patient complications in a lifelike yet controlled environment. The program provides resources for infant, pediatric and adult simulation models as well as obstetrical and ultrasonographic models. The ultimate goal of the program is to provide training, improve quality of care, and assist in the research and development of new equipment and procedures. The program is dedicated to cutting-edge research and is the primary site lead for a $3.6 million NIH grant contributing to the creation of a postpartum hemorrhage skills simulation program in collaboration with Baylor College of Medicine, Cornell University and Columbia University. The institute is continuously expanding and has grown from 10,000 providers in 2019 to 20,000 in 2023.
Cook County Health (Chicago). Cook County Health’s portfolio encompasses two acute two acute care hospitals, over a dozen community health centers, correctional health services, CountyCare – the largest Medicaid managed care plan in Cook County – and the Cook County Department of Public Health. As both a provider and a health plan, the organization hosts 27 residency and fellowship programs, and educates over 440 doctors annually. The Cook County Simulation Training Center, established in 2005, offers simulation-based medical education for all medical professionals within Cook County Health and serves 10,000-plus students each year. Simulation modalities include procedural skills, task trainers, high-fidelity mannequins, and standardized patients.
The Guthrie Clinic (Sayre, Pa.). Guthrie’s simulation and advanced skills institute house an array of 40 programs that cover 13 unique physician specialties. The institute aims to both expand healthcare training and become a beacon of knowledge for practical training offerings. Its methodology utilizes 10 simulation devices that are designed to offer immersive, hands-on training that goes beyond traditional learning. As a result the system has seen marked improvements in patient care and healthcare outcomes. Its surgeon training program has played a part in the system’s designation as a Level I trauma center. It has also established a virtual command center to overcome labor shortages and rising clinical costs. The center has harnessed AI technology to support patient care and achieve substantial cost savings.
Hackensack Meridian Health (Edison, N.J.). The Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine simulation program provides medical students with realistic simulated experiences to build skills, confidence, reflective capacity and collaboration. Diverse modalities, including high-fidelity manikins, standardized patients and specialty task trainers are utilized alongside more robust tools. One of the newer tools at the program is the LeCat Ventriloscope, a hybrid digital/analog stethoscope which allows students to analyze over 100 specific heart and lung sounds. With a holistic approach, knowledge of patient safety skills as well as patient assessment and end-of-life conversations are covered. In addition to training graduate medical students, the program also hosts “Physician for Day” events, in which high school students visit the School of Medicine and are guided by medical students through hands-on experiences with manikins and participating in an intubation workshop.
HonorHealth (Scottsdale, Ariz.). HonorHealth is focused on continuously revising its approach to education, with its current commitment to medical simulation focused on academic affairs, the center for clinical excellence and the military partnership simulation center. Simulation in graduate medical education allows trainees to bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical applications. The simulation environment allows trainees to learn on a platform where they can make mistakes without putting a patient’s life at risk. It builds confidence and competence to excel in the real world of healthcare. The system provides residents and fellows with 14 simulation services for 150 residents and fellows and 900 medical students annually. Simulation at the center for clinical excellence allows healthcare providers to refine their skills and practice with new and emerging medical technologies. Simulated scenarios range from routine patient care to complex surgical interventions. The military simulation center allows military medical personnel to practice high-stress scenarios and patient encounters that they often face. The center has trained 595 military healthcare providers to date.
Inova (Falls Church, Va.). Inova offers the most technologically advanced surgery simulation facility in the region through its Advanced Surgical Technology and Education Center, which provides real-time surgical training and education to enhance skills, allow for observation and evaluation, and provide team building opportunities. The center encourages hands-on learning for residents, including general surgery, neurosurgery, podiatry, and obstetrics and gynecology, with the overarching goal of optimizing patient care and minimizing adverse outcomes. The program provides 3D-printed, patient-specific models to preoperatively simulate, rehearse, and optimize complex surgeries or rare cases. Among other accomplishments, the program has recently designed training for first responders, engaged youth programs and coordinated traveling clinicians to support underserved countries.
Johns Hopkins Medicine (Baltimore). Created under the partnership between the School of Medicine and the Johns Hopkins Hospital, the Johns Hopkins Medical Simulation Center provides nursing, respiratory therapy and medical students as well as house-staff with human patient simulation, virtual reality, task trainers and computerized simulations. With high-fidelity manikins, simulated patient examination and communication, simulated procedures and task training, the Simulation Center not only enhances student learning but also improves patient safety and amplifies research being done on simulation as a diagnostic tool.
Kaiser Permanente (Los Angeles). Kaiser Permanente’s Garfield Center comprises mocked-up rooms, robot prototypes, interactive screens and simulation environments including a surgical suite, labor and delivery area, patient home, hospital ward, consulting room and nurse workstation. The center utilizes prototyping, testing and simulation, in addition to inputs from clinicians, care teams and patients, to test technologies and new designs before their implementation. Current focus areas for the center include preventing and mitigating childhood trauma, developing food insecurity interventions and designing patient centric hospital rooms.
Kaweah Health (Visalia, Calif.). The Kaweah Health Simulation Center has been open since 2007. The center comprises a multi-station skills lab and a high-fidelity simulation suite with adjacent control room and debriefing room, utilizing SimMan, SimJunior, and SimBaby manikins, as well as GI-Bronch Mentor and Heartworks & Bodyworks Simulators. It has been an instrumental piece of the Kaweah Health graduate medical education program, offering both simulation education as well as a clinical teaching and simulation fellowship for residents looking to become simulation leaders.
MedStar Health (Columbia, Md.). The MedStar Health Simulation Training & Education Lab serves as the main education infrastructure for MedStar Health, training professionals across all 50 states as a full-scale operation within the MedStar Institute for Innovation. The 100-plus team members provide training initiatives, education consultation, program development, technical support and program delivery. The product suite includes hands-on learning opportunities, interactive online training, virtual high-fidelity simulation, and continuing professional education. The program fully embraces innovation and employs new technologies like virtual and augmented reality, point-of-care ultrasound and AI to enhance medical training. The team trained over 22,000 simulation learners and supported more than 1.2 million online learning completions in fiscal year 2023. Recently, the program has created its first large service line program in obstetrical risk-reduction efforts and has spearheaded multiple virtual and extended reality educational offerings.
Memorial Health (Springfield, Ill.). Memorial opened its learning center in 2015 on the campus of its flagship hospital in Springfield. The facility has since been dedicated to supporting and developing the capabilities of the healthcare workforce and promoting a culture of continuous learning and improvement. In addition, the learning center has multiple simulation facilities and surgical skills labs. Its simulation center has 10 simulated learning environments and 16,000 square feet of patient care rooms, operating rooms and ambulance and patient homes. The facility is also a teaching hospital for Southern Illinois University School of Medicine. The center also hosts training free of charge for paramedics and emergency medicine providers in the state. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the center shifted its priorities to become a training center for nurses and physicians treating respiratory illnesses. It also pivoted to virtual sessions for frontline staff members, promoting social distancing and remote learning.
Mount Sinai Hospital (New York City). Mount Sinai’s surgical simulation center is a state-of-the-art facility that allows its users to create nearly any healthcare scenario. It facilitates teamwork, interactions and communications among staff that contribute to the safety and care that we provide our patients. The center allows residents to train with virtual manikin simulators and high-definition laparoscopic stations. The simulation center is specifically used for training residents and fellows from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai to create the next generation of talented and competent medical professionals. The center transcends basic residency education and training, providing a multidisciplinary and multispecialty educational experience. Faculty members at Mount Sinai are available to instruct residents on surgical techniques, and junior and senior residents are given the opportunity to simulate surgical collaboration.
NYU Health (New York City). The goal of NYU’s NYSIM facility is to provide simulation education and research that fosters quality care, patient safety, and effective communication with patients and among health care professionals. The facility is a hub for education in the health sciences at both NYU and CUNY. Since its opening in 2011, NYSIM has had more than 50,000 learner visits and delivered nearly 2,000 simulation courses for NYU and CUNY medical, nursing and dental students, residents, staff physicians and nurses, physician assistants, respiratory therapists as well as those in other healthcare fields. NYSIM offers training to first responders in the New York area, including firefighters and emergency medical service personnel. The hub has expanded accessibility for all learners, assessed educational and health outcomes through research and data analysis, cultivated a focus on quality and safety, continued education consultations, model teamwork and a non-judgmental learning environment and increased the simulation lab’s local, national and global visibility.
Northeast Georgia Health System (Gainesville). Northeast Georgia’s simulation center promotes high-quality and safe patient care through education, research development and simulation-based training and experiential learning. Externally, the center partners with high schools, colleges and EMS departments throughout Northeast Georgia to provide simulated healthcare trainings. To date, 6,742 participants have been served by the training center, including physicians, nurses, medical assistants, physical therapists, first responders and college and high school students. The center has also partnered with multiple law enforcement agencies to educate tactical team members and EMS providers. Resident physicians also got to participate in a pilot utilizing virtual reality simulations to train on healthcare disparities, diversity, equity and inclusion.
NorthShore – Edward-Elmhurst Health (Evanston, Ill.). NorthShore’s Grainger Center for Simulation & Innovation was established in 2011 to provide support for the healthcare workforce. The interprofessional simulation team works with every specialty to help providers of all experience levels perfect critical skills needed to provide safe, effective, expert care. With 150 hours of active curriculum per month, the simulation team serves more than 8,000 learners annually. The center, which is accredited by the Society for Simulation in Healthcare and the American College of Surgeons, promotes psychologically safe experiential learning and debriefing. Beyond training, the center fosters innovation through its surgical simulation programming and 3D printing pre-procedural planning program.
OSF HealthCare (Peoria, Ill.). OSF HealthCare’s Jump simulation and training center was founded in 2012 to provide healthcare education, simulation opportunities and innovation. It is a collaboration between OSF Healthcare and the University of Illinois College of Medicine Peoria. Jump applies simulation, research, discovery, collaboration and applied science to dramatically improve outcomes and lower costs in the healthcare space. The facility also shares expertise with other institutions around the world in an effort to transform healthcare globally. The Jump simulation center is one of the largest of its kind in the whole world. Jump provides training programs for medical students, registered nurses and emergency medicine specialists, offering different curriculum and projects tailored to the needs of the current healthcare environment. Jump learning events provide participants with access to real world medical equipment and state-of-the-art simulation devices. The system also offers digital learning opportunities, providing users with a phone application that can be used to hone provider skills whenever and wherever.
Ochsner Health (New Orleans). Since opening in 2017, the Ochsner Clinical Simulation and Patient Safety Center has offered high-fidelity human patient simulators mimicking real physiological functions for students to safely acquire and practice their clinical skills with. Ochsner Health currently sponsors 30 ACGME-accredited residency and fellowship programs, with more than 300 residents, fellows, and interns pursuing graduate medical education at any given time. Also, in January 2023, Ochsner Health announced its partnership with Xavier University of Louisiana to establish a joint College of Medicine.
Orlando (Fla.) Health. The simulation program at Orlando Health, launched in 2009, provides new clinicians with two simulation centers: the Orlando Health Institute for Learning Simulation Center, and the Medical Education Center for Simulation-Based Training. The program employs bedside educators in guiding students through simulations of mock codes, adverse reactions, stroke, orthopedics, respiratory disease, precipitous delivery, sepsis and more. In addition, the program also participates in an annual systemwide mock mass casualty event to reinforce emergency preparedness. To accommodate the program’s fast expansion, Orlando Health developed a 2.5 day course which has trained nearly 100 team members across hospital sites to facilitate simulation. Furthermore, in May 2023, the first cohort of the year-long fellowship program for simulation facilitation began.
Parkview Health (Fort Wayne, Ind.). The Parkview Health Sim Lab has worked vigorously towards process standardization and policy writing as part of its differentiation strategy. Thanks to its efforts, it was accredited by the Society for Simulation in Healthcare in 2020 and by the American College of Surgeons as an accredited education institution in 2022. In 2023, the program was approved to build a fellowship program to instruct physician fellows on simulation program theory, operations, business and leadership. As simulation research is one of the program’s current priorities, ongoing internal projects are reviewed for potential qualifications as research projects and eventual publications. When projects would require expensive training equipment, alternative low-cost trainers were built to enable non-inferiority analysis for publication. Over the past seven years, Parkview Health’s Mirro Advanced Simulation Lab has been building a mobile simulation program featuring three simulation trucks, which will provide first responders with emergency medical training.
Prime Healthcare (Ontario, Calif.). Prime Healthcare’s Prime Academy provides a user-friendly learning platform for Prime Healthcare clinical and non-clinical workers to participate in live virtual learning experiences through webinars. Prime Academy helps to supplement Prime’s full offering of live training. The program features an interactive virtual classroom, an on-demand course library and a registration calendar of virtual events. Available programs include new hire orientations, critical care series’ and a leadership and patient experience series. Since the platforms launch in January, hundreds of nurses have participated in the live critical care course, two special events have been held on burnout and compassion fatigue, multidisciplinary events have provided education on ideas sharing and a de-escalation and crisis intervention training program was held teaching clinicians self-defense maneuver options. Prime has also embarked on a strategic partnership with Steer Health to create a next-generation consumer engagement experience for Prime’s 45 hospitals and 300 outpatient locations.
Stanford Medicine (Palo Alto, Calif.). Stanford University School of Medicine and its hospitals established the Center for Immersive and Simulation-based Learning in hopes of pioneering novel techniques, technologies and applications for patient care. The system benefits from the simulation center’s practical- and research-based findings. The program promotes innovation, with the ability to formulate clinical spaces that mirror their real-life counterparts closely and allows students to practice before live clinical testing. Among the simulation modalities available are standardized patients, part-task physical trainers, virtual reality, desktop simulations and mannequin-based simulators. The center also operates the Goodman Immersive Learning Center, a simulation facility that serves budding surgeons at the medical school.
Tampa (Fla.) General Hospital/CAMLS at USF Health. Tampa General is the leading academic health system in the region, leveraging its academic partnership with the University of South Florida to teach and train the next generation of healthcare professionals. A large portion of the university’s ongoing training is delivered through simulation programs at the USF Health Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation, or CAMLS. USF CAMLS was established in 2012 and encompasses 90,000 square feet of simulation space for healthcare professionals and students. The center trains nurses, physicians and support staff on evidence-based clinical practices including neonatal care, skin preparation and catheter insertion and removal. CAMLS supports the training of 100 incoming medical residents annually. Tampa General also provides simulation training for medical residents by specialty, including emergency medicine, neurosurgery and more. In partnership with CAMLS, Tampa General has recently enhanced its simulation program, adding extended reality training, virtual and augmented reality training options. The technology is being used to simulate hospital settings, from operating rooms to patient rooms. The facility also recently acquired one of the first commercial off-the-shelf devices for haptic technology in medical technology. The program also has technologically advanced mannequins that can breathe in oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide.
UPMC (Pittsburgh). The University of Pittsburgh’s Wiser Institute for Simulation, Education and Research was established in 1994. An integral piece of the University as well as the UPMC Health System, WISER offers a fellowship program as one of the few centers in the world accredited by the Society for Simulation in Healthcare in all five specialty areas. WISER’s programs aim not only to provide simulation based training, but also to improve patient safety, explore improvements in healthcare delivery and foster research on simulation education.
UW Medicine (Seattle). WISH is the University of Washington’s simulation center, which spans 30 departments throughout UW Medicine, School of Medicine, School of Nursing, School of Pharmacy, and the physician assistant training program. With the use of cutting-edge technology, WISH facilitates education and training so learners can perfect their skills before applying them to a patient. Created in 2009, WISH promotes interprofessional team communication, effectively reducing the margin of error and keeping patients safer. Donations, along with awards such as the WISH Innovation in Simulation Award, help support innovations in technology, education and delivery. The program’s research arm, the Center for Research in Education and Simulation Technologies, supports advancement in the field of healthcare simulation sciences via the creation of realistic models, virtual environments, and more.
University of Miami Health System. Miami’s Simulation Hospital Advancing Research and Education, S.H.A.R.E., provides clinical, research and educational simulation opportunities. With easily personalizable environments that can mirror ambulance bays, emergency departments, incident command centers, outpatient clinics, labor and delivery suites, operating rooms and more, students have unparalleled access to authentic equipment, techniques and experiences in a safe, simulated setting. S.H.A.R.E.’s research contributes greatly to patient safety, disaster preparedness, health equity and more. The program is beginning to incorporate augmented, virtual and mixed reality technologies to help familiarize students with operating rooms before clinical placement. Students, healthcare professionals, first responders and corporate partners alike can access the S.H.A.R.E. facility. The hospital was established in 2017 and has since played a crucial role in creating and standardizing processes that address hurricanes, active shooters, disease outbreaks and other disasters.
University of Nebraska Medical Center (Omaha). iEXCEL is the University of Nebraska’s high-fidelity simulation program offered at the five-level Dr. Edwin G. & Dorothy Balbach Davis Global Center. The iEXCEL training model aims to improve patient care outcomes through interprofessional collaboration and hands-on learning, which includes clinical simulation, visualization and surgical skills training. The University is also committed to making quality emergency medical education more accessible to rural areas by delivering technologically advanced simulation training to emergency medical care providers within critical access hospitals across the state with mobile Simulation In Motion – Nebraska units.
University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center (Memphis, Tenn.). University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center opened the state-of-the-art Center for Healthcare Improvement and Patient Simulation in 2018. The center utilizes standardized patients, high-fidelity patient simulators and virtual reality settings to educate students, residents, professionals and clinicians. The facility serves those at the dentistry, graduate health sciences, health professions, nursing, medicine, and pharmacy colleges, preparing them to deliver high-quality team-based healthcare. In 2022, the program guided 19,410 non-unique learners through simulation events.
University of Utah Health (Salt Lake City). The Simulation Learning Center at the University of Utah College of Nursing provides simulation education and research for students, faculty, clinical staff and community partners. Students, including pre-license and graduate nursing students, medical students and residents spend an entire day each week of the semester in the center harnessing psychomotor skills, critical thinking and clinical judgment, led by full-time faculty educators. The learning center is also shared frequently by the College of Nursing for courses and conferences, such as the Pediatric Critical Care Medicine Boot Camp for first-year fellows as well as a two-day pediatric and neonatal care ultrasound course. In 2022, the simulation team at the center was nominated for the International Nursing Association of Clinical and Simulation Learning Frontline Simulation Champion Excellence Award.
WellSpan Health (York, Pa.). WellSpan has several education programs throughout South Central Pennsylvania to inspire and nurture talent within the healthcare industry. Its York hospital offers several training programs including nine residency programs, six clinical fellowships, six allied health education programs, hundreds of clerkship rotations every year for medical students, a high-quality volunteer program for teenagers interested in going into healthcare and engaging hands-on school programs. Across the system, it offers developmental programs associated with behavioral health, psychology and more. WellSpan also supports students through scholarship opportunities, including five major annual scholarship programs.
