CAE Partners with Staffordshire University on Centre of Excellence

CAE Healthcare has recently opened a new Centre of Excellence (COE) at Staffordshire University in the United Kingdom. A COE is a CAE-designated simulation training and research centre that exemplifies the best practice of simulation in education to make healthcare safer.

“The location of this centre is key to our continued outreach to train health professionals and increase patient safety in the United Kingdom,” said Heidi Wood, President, CAE Healthcare. “Collaborating with leaders in healthcare simulation provides future medical professionals with industry-leading training, while simultaneously driving innovation in the next generation of our products and services and how they’re used to support learning outcomes.”

Staffordshire University’s Centre of Excellence is housed at the Centre for Health Innovation, which includes a new 1,242-square-metre facility, supporting over 2,000 nurses, midwives, operating department practitioners and paramedics.

The Centre for Health Innovation utilises CAE’s high-technology products that combine hands-on realism enhanced with augmented and virtual reality capabilities. These technologies are used in conjunction with several different CAE manikins, the digital education platform CAE Maestro Evolve, the simulation management system CAE LearningSpace and the CAE iRIS scenario-authoring platform. This, along with a strong pedagogical approach, will provide students with realistic training to improve patient safety.

The Centre also offers a platform for new collaborations with local businesses, healthcare providers and technology industries. Supporting the recovery and development of the healthcare community is critical and the centre, with the support of CAE Healthcare, provides an innovative suite of training and development opportunities, including, simulation-based courses, bespoke clinical and non-clinical courses as well as Resuscitation Council UK courses.

Emily Browne, Associate Dean for Innovation and Enterprise and School Lead for Simulation and Patient Safety, added, “Immersive simulation driven by CAE technology is a key part of the experience at Staffordshire University. Taking students out of traditional lecture theatres and immersing them in real-life simulation scenarios helps to develop their confidence and competence through practice within a safe but stimulating environment.

Centres of Excellence support the vision and mission of CAE Healthcare by participating in product development and beta testing, helping to develop future content, and promoting the expansion of simulation in healthcare. Existing CAE COEs are part of an ongoing study on the current state of nursing education. Staffordshire University is one of five active COEs in the world since CAE launched the program in 2016.