Share ThisThe Simulation, Teaching, and Academic Research (STAR) Center at Allegheny Health Network (AHN) offers unique learning experiences for students, practitioners, and members of the allied health community.
Led by co-founders Donald Wilfong, Jr., MD and Donamarie Wilfong, DNP, RN, highly experienced and dynamic STAR team members and course facilitators teach vital skills in health care, following best practices in simulation. STAR is one of the most elite simulation centers in the world, fully accredited by the Society for Simulation in Healthcare.
Education through the STAR Center ensures the highest standards of patient care, quality, safety and service. Participants practice and perfect their procedural skills on high/low fidelity mannequins and full/partial body task trainers. In addition to clinical skills, participants can practice communication techniques and other soft skills with real people.
By integrating simulation into the development model, AHN not only provides better patient care but also reduces care costs. For example, during the planning of the AHN Wexford Hospital, the STAR Center helped save millions of dollars by constructing a life-size cardboard hospital to replicate the clinical experience.
The STAR Center is focused on meeting learners where they are — training a wide variety of individuals, from environmental specialists all the way to practicing physicians. More than 250,000 individuals have trained in the STAR Center. Beginner, intermediate, and advanced learners leverage state-of-the art equipment at its simulated hospital and outpatient clinic.
Dr. Donamarie Wilfong: Simulation-based education saves lives. Nobody's going to get hurt in the STAR Center. If you make the mistake, this is the place to make it. We're all human.
As a nursing instructor for over 40 years, I realized that there were many nursing students who were not successful. They really had the knowledge and the skills that they needed, however, they lacked the ability to perfect these skills in the way that they learned best. So, I thought what could have so many more nurses if we use simulation as a teaching and learning tool.
Jared Mugfor: Going through it in the STAR Center, you are so comfortable, you're not just opening the box and being like, oh my god, what is this? I've never seen this. You know what to do, you know when to ask for help. And it just makes it a lot more comfortable under the pressure.
Dr. Donamarie Wilfong: We don't want our students to become frustrated. So, we might take a timeout, and we might say, okay, let's take a timeout. We all go in here. We regroup and we talk about okay, what just happened? What can we change and then we come back in and then Heather or the course facilitator will begin the scenario.
The healthcare field is constantly changing. And it's very difficult for the practitioner to be aware of all of these changes. So, a simulation center is a safety net, where they know that we are up to date with all of the best practices, all of the technology that exists in the hospital exists here at the STAR Center.
This was one of the very first mannequins that they use to replicate a neonate, and this is probably 15 years old, but they didn't have all of the technology then to replicate the actual procedures that you needed to have to provide care for these infants. This we just got two years ago, which is the actual size that you would have of a neonate.
Dr. Brian Parker: We've got 3D printers, we're creating a lot of things here on site that helped us from a prop standpoint, to be able to really stage the scenario with a lot of things that are familiar to folks. And it's a little bit like how long it takes your mind to adapt to being in virtual reality. The first 10 to 15 seconds, you're kind of like oh this is an all of a sudden you're engaged and it's now you're in.
Dawn Cicchini: We have a lovely open fracture here. It's not necessarily something you see everyday in nursing care, but it's something that when you do see it, you want to make sure you know how to react appropriately. That includes in some cases not really the patient know how freaked out you are by their injury.
Becki Okopal: Hearing the simulator, touching the simulator, having it respond, it just gives them confidence in their practice. You give them the authority to be like okay, what is happening? What is the situation and what should I do to make this patient better?
Dr. Donamarie Wilfong: And the whole purpose is you understand that you hear the siren, you hear the sounds of white noise, we call it of the ambulance, and the traffic going back and forth. But Therese still has to stay focused on that patient, physically assess that patient, critically think and communicate that to the hospital.
Dr. Brian Parker: Your experiencing something that you've experienced before, and that's part of your imprinted memory. You say to yourself, oh, I remember this happening to me once before. This is what I did.
Dr, Donamarie Wilfong: If you don't practice, if you don't communicate to your team members, errors do occur, and errors can be somebody's life. So many lives have been impacted by the STAR Center, and I know that that somewhere in any part of the world somebody's trained at the STAR Center and they're a better practitioner because of it.
Some types of learning are best when it happens in the environment where the care is delivered. That’s where STAR’s mobile outreach program comes in.
Through their mobile vans, the STAR Center team goes into the community to provide an array of on-site trainings. As of October 2022, the mobile units have logged more than 147,000 hours, completed 2,000 courses, and driven more than 13,000 miles.
This approach maximizes the time of providers and solves for staffing challenges. In the future, the STAR team aims to expand their offerings by funding more mobile units. See a day in the life of STAR’s mobile unit team in the video below.
Gregory Lowe: Somebody made a comment, he said every time we get in a van, it's on news. Why don't you listen to music? I don't like today's music.
I'm glad we're traveling this early. Traffic is excellent this morning. I was up at four this morning for this event. We're doing a mock code out here in Wexford. And timing is of the essence. They get pretty busy, so we tried to get in when we can. It's mobile teaching. We're bringing the service to them.
Stephanie Bailey: We have two different scenarios. I'll do like the OR people first, and we'll do the periop second. Same guy that talks, does everything. We're here at Wexford. We're at the ambulatory surgery center. And we're going to do a mock malignant hyperthermia case. It's with the operative personnel which includes registered nurse anesthetists and the nurses that are within the operating room. He's doing good, he's resting, all of a sudden after he starts coming around, he starts shivering. His blood pressure is now 156 over 112.
Catherine Beatty: The operating room has very unique educational needs. Our staff enjoys the fact that they are here and it's convenient. We are able to get our education needs and start the operating room on time.
Stephanie Bailey: Probably the biggest problems it's solving is it's providing that educational gap that they're not getting, they can't get off the unit or bringing the education to them. And we do gear the scenarios very specific for each unit, so it's exactly what they're gonna see. And it's tailored to their needs.
Trainees: Irrigate, excellent, call the malignant hotline.
Stephanie Bailey: That's what they want you guys to do. Call the hotline.
Laura McKelvey: We were able to do this at the beginning of our shift, before the day had started, which was really nice. This is a rare scenario that you may or may not see. So, I think it's really important to be able to review situations like this so that in that high stress situation you can respond accordingly.
Gregory Lowe: The training sessions were excellent. You know codes are not, they don't happen all the time. So, it's always a good thing if you can show them and teach him to be code ready. That's such a good feeling. And the more I feel that, the more I want to keep fulfilling that. There's a code right there. You did good today my friend.
For more information on how to collaborate with the STAR Center call (412) 578-4418 or email simulation@ahn.org.
Highmark Health and its subsidiaries and affiliates comprise a national blended health organization that employs more than 42,000 people and serves millions of Americans across the country.
Entire contents © Highmark Health. All Rights Reserved.
Highmark Health is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association.
Need to find info about providers, prescriptions, coverage, claims, ID cards, or health spending or savings accounts? If so, your Highmark member site is the place to go. (It’s separate from this blog.)