Mortenson’s project team on the Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin Froedtert Hospital campus recently obtained occupancy on the Simulation Center. The new 12,000-square-foot facility will house three simulation environments: inpatient room, operating room, and a trauma and critical care room.

Simulation 1 is designed to mirror the newly remodeled inpatient rooms on floors 7 and 8 of Froedtert’s North Tower. Users experience the facility’s healthcare technology, location of supplies, room set-up, and equipment positioning. The simulation room also includes a fully functioning bathroom, call system, patient lift, and computer to check orders, diagnostics, and lab results, administer medication, and document patient care.

Simulation 2 provides users with an Operating Room (OR) experience, complete with a scrub station outside the OR, computer display, surgical table, and anesthesia machine. The OR also is outfitted with patient monitors for users to visualize patient status and diagnostic results. 

Simulation 3 is split between an Emergency Room and a trauma bay or critical care room. Team members training in the space experience an ER environment including the use of equipment, medical gases, and lighting. Users can also work through patient interviews, assessments, diagnostics, and team-based care training. The other side of SIM 3 is dedicated to critical care complete with medical equipment, monitors, and medical gases used to treat patients in very acute situations.

All simulation rooms have video recording capabilities to allow for review and learning after patient-care scenarios are complete. The Simulation Center is a safety resource for Froedtert’s entire health network where inter-professional teams practice working and communicating together in a safe, controlled environment. The teams use computerized life-like manikins and sometimes actors to practice decision-making in a changeable, real-time environment. The most important aspect of every simulation occurs after the event, an in-depth debriefing led by a subject matter expert and a facilitator.