Simulation Center at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center

Simulation Center at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center
Name	Simulation Center at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center
Location	Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Established	2000s
Type	Clinical simulation center
Affiliation	Wake Forest School of Medicine

Simulation Center at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center is an advanced healthcare simulation facility located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, affiliated with Wake Forest School of Medicine. The center supports clinical education, multidisciplinary training, and translational research by integrating high-fidelity simulation, standardized patients, and virtual reality technologies to improve patient care and safety. It serves learners from medical, nursing, allied health, and residency programs and engages regional hospitals, federal agencies, and industry partners.

History

The center developed amid national efforts following landmark initiatives such as Institute of Medicine reports and collaborations with Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, aligning with accreditation standards from organizations including Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education and Association of American Medical Colleges. Early institutional support came from Wake Forest Baptist Health leadership and academic planning with Wake Forest School of Medicine, while philanthropic and governmental funding paralleled investments seen at centers like Mayo Clinic and Johns Hopkins Hospital. Over time the center expanded programs in response to accreditation changes from Liaison Committee on Medical Education and workforce recommendations from American Board of Internal Medicine and American Nurses Association, and grew its partnerships with regional systems such as Novant Health and Cone Health. The center’s timeline reflects trends established by leaders at Kaiser Permanente, Cleveland Clinic, and Massachusetts General Hospital that emphasized interprofessional, competency-based training.

Facilities and Technology

The facility combines simulation suites, standardized patient exam rooms, debriefing auditoria, and immersive simulation labs equipped with manikins from vendors used at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Technology includes high-fidelity patient simulators similar to those employed by UCSF Medical Center, portable task trainers paralleling devices at Stanford Health Care, and integrated audio-visual capture systems used at Mount Sinai Hospital and University of Pennsylvania Health System. The center hosts virtual reality systems akin to platforms adopted by University of Washington Medical Center and augmented reality tools comparable to those at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Control rooms support scenarios modeled after military medical simulations such as those at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and civilian mass-casualty exercises coordinated with Federal Emergency Management Agency. The facility supports surgical simulation suites reflecting practices at Royal College of Surgeons affiliated centers and anesthesiology simulation modeled on programs at University of Michigan Health.

Educational Programs

The center delivers curricula for undergraduate medical education tied to Wake Forest School of Medicine clerkships, residency training aligned with American College of Surgeons competencies, and continuing professional development mirroring programs from American Heart Association and American College of Emergency Physicians. Interprofessional education brings together learners from nursing programs similar to those at Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, physician assistant programs like Duke University School of Medicine (PA Program), and pharmacy trainees associated with UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. Courses include team training based on crew resource management concepts from Federal Aviation Administration adaptations, procedural skills training comparable to offerings at Royal Society of Medicine, and simulation-based assessments consistent with National Board of Medical Examiners standards. The center hosts boot camps, objective structured clinical examinations inspired by Medical Council of Canada formats, and leadership simulations analogous to executive training at Harvard Medical School.

Research and Innovation

Research activities span translational simulation science, human factors research influenced by work at MIT, and outcomes research following methodologies used by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The center collaborates on randomized trials, observational studies, and implementation science projects similar to studies at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Yale School of Medicine. Innovation initiatives include development of curricula with educational scientists from University of California, San Diego and technology pilots with industry partners akin to collaborations with Medtronic and Philips Healthcare. Faculty publish in journals frequented by investigators from New England Journal of Medicine and Journal of the American Medical Association networks, and present at conferences such as those organized by Society for Simulation in Healthcare and Association of Standardized Patient Educators.

Clinical Integration and Patient Safety

The center integrates simulation-based safety interventions aligned with patient-safety programs at Institute for Healthcare Improvement and best practices advocated by Joint Commission. It supports root-cause analysis exercises paralleling methods used at National Patient Safety Foundation and conducts team training for rapid response and code teams similar to initiatives at Boston Children’s Hospital. Simulation-based credentialing, checklists, and workflow redesign projects mirror work at Veterans Health Administration facilities and regional health systems such as Atrium Health. The center’s simulations inform quality improvement collaboratives and reduce adverse events through training approaches comparable to those used in large networks like Kaiser Permanente.

Partnerships and Outreach

Partnerships include academic collaborations with Wake Forest School of Medicine, regional healthcare systems including Novant Health and Cone Health, and federal entities similar to collaborations with Department of Defense training programs. Outreach extends to community hospitals, rural clinics modeled after networks in Rural Health Information Hub, and international exchanges comparable to programs run by World Health Organization. The center engages industry partners, professional societies such as American Medical Association, and educational consortia similar to Clerkship Directors in Internal Medicine. It hosts workshops, regional simulation collaboratives, and disaster-preparedness exercises in coordination with organizations like American Red Cross and North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.

Category:Medical simulation centers