The Children's is pleased to announce the official opening of its Centre for Pediatric Simulation, one of only a few world-class simulation centres with on-site pediatric education facilities.

The mission of the Centre for Pediatric Simulation is to provide interprofessional training created to mirror real-life situations – from the rarest to the most common scenarios – to help The Children's teams provide the best patient care.

The goal of the centre is to advance clinical care, disseminate knowledge, increase patient, family, and staff safety, strengthen the culture of simulation as a training method, and generate research topics.

Growing demand

The Children's has been conducting simulations for many years to enhance the knowledge of its professionals. However, to meet the growing demand, a dedicated full-time team is now established and is housed in The Children's National Bank Family Resource Centre.

"Continuing education is the cornerstone of ongoing improvement in patient care. Thanks to significant advances in the medical field, healthcare is becoming more complex, creating a pressing need for new and innovative learning methods for professionals, of which simulation is an integral part," says Dr. Ilana Bank, medical director of the Centre for Pediatric Simulation.

"The entire team is very proud to be opening a cutting-edge centre today that addresses the need for training."

Simulations foster the development of new skills, teamwork, problem-solving, decision-making, and patient/family-centered care while improving clinical outcomes.

Practice makes perfect, and simulation allows healthcare professionals to put knowledge into action in a risk-free environment. By being exposed to a variety of medical situations, healthcare professionals are better prepared and more confident when caring for a sick child. They also learn best practices for communicating with patients and their families and providing them with reassurance and comfort.  

Improving patient care, one simulation at a time

Services offered at the Centre for Pediatric Simulation include:

• a mobile unit to facilitate pediatric-based educational sessions in the Hospital’s patient care areas;
• mannequins of varying sizes and ages to reflect the pediatric population;
• a dedicated multidisciplinary team committed to designing and facilitating educational sessions based on each team’s specific learning needs.

Many events can be simulated, including but not limited to trauma, surgical care, medical care, resuscitation drills, various codes (for example, respiratory arrest), and disaster preparedness. If you can think of it, The Children's team can simulate it!

The sessions can be filmed or live-streamed so they can be viewed remotely in real-time or afterward. Following each simulation, a debrief is organized to help identify challenges and opportunities for improvement.

Thank you to our donors

“The Foundation is extremely fortunate to be able to rely on our tremendously generous community of donors to step up to fund projects like the Centre for Pediatric Simulation. This innovative project is supported 100 percent by donors, including the Thistledown Foundation which took the lead by donating $1 million to the centre. The Foundation is deeply grateful for their support,” says Renée Vézina, President of The Children’s Foundation.

 “I would also like to thank Nan and Bill Lassner and CAE for their gifts. Thank you for helping The Children’s find unexpected ways to heal.”