The Clinical Skills Centre at Gateshead’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital provides clinical education in a state-of-the art facility which includes a ward area and a fully equipped simulation room with attached operator/observation room.
It hosts a wide selection of education resources including:
- SimMan 3G, SimMan, SimMom, SimJunior and SimBaby
- Ultrasound simulation training models
- SMOTs audiovisual monitoring and playback facilities in every room
- Dedicated AV / Simulation technical support
- A comprehensive suite of skills training manikins
The centre is a central hub in the organisation for clinical educational activity and caters for:
- Coordination of medical undergraduate activity throughout the organisation
- Speciality specific skills training, Interprofessional simulation training and course hosting
- Room hire and conference hosting
- Central storage of teaching and education resources
In addition to the Clinical Skills and Simulation Centre we also have on-site meeting and conferencing facilities with a 120-seat lecture theatre in Trust HQ, also at the QE Hospital.
These are exciting times when we look at how we work together as multi-professional teams, and how we could learn together. In recent years it has become widely accepted that part of the challenge for healthcare workers is to understand the role and abilities of other professionals in the team. It’s both the clinical skills and the non-technical skills that create the barriers for us, and these are the areas that we hope to address within the Clinical Skills and Simulation Centre whilst developing our staff and continuing to provide high quality care for the people of Gateshead.”
Dr Alan Thomas, Senior lecturer and Consultant in Old Age Psychiatry, at QE Gateshead
“Simulation is merely another tool at the disposal of the educator in the healthcare environment. The challenge in education is to successfully transfer skills learned in the classroom to the real life clinical environment where we are exposed to other professions, skill-mixes, and pressures of work. Simulation allows us to create these challenges in an environment where it is safe to make a mistake. We learn from our mistakes.“
Clinical Skills Educator and Business Development Lead at QE Gateshead