When the fall semester begins this month at the University of South Florida, the USF College of Public Health will offer a first-of-its-kind, university-based bachelor's degree in health care simulation operations.
The curriculum is offered in conjunction with the USF Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation (CAMLS), one of the world’s largest free-standing health care simulation facilities, according to the university.
Melissa Milner, who directs medical simulation at CAMLS, said the practice is used in a variety of professions. But health care industries use it for training students as well as professionals to "improve skills, to really look at systems, to look at teamwork and communication."
Milner said when she came to USF in August 2022 there wasn’t much in the way of simulation operations, which involves designing, setting up and running training scenarios using specialized equipment and technology.
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She mentioned one course that was taught perhaps once or twice.
“We started talking about a little bit more, and our CEO just said, 'Melissa, can you … create something?' And so here we are. I envisioned it taking about five years from creation to execution. And it's by some miracle I've been able to get it out. And we're executing the entire concentration starting this fall,” she said.
Milner said the work helps to protect patient safety and improve the quality of health care. And there’s an advantage in being able to create scenarios that health care students might not have access to in the real world.
“There’s so much value in the doing and learning what the outcome of that action is, without harming a real person. So, we use high-fidelity mannequins, we use low-fidelity mannequins — computerized mannequins that will replicate human physiological functions or lower ones that are more for skills or task training — and then we also use (human) tissue for simulation as well,” she said.
'Wizard behind the curtain'
From learning how to place an IV to talking to patients and families, the simulations address real-world scenarios.
But there are limitations to the technology. For example, a mannequin is less likely to scream, jump or move, like a human might when someone is trying to put a big needle into a vein in a hand.
And if you’re wondering about the role of simulation operators, Milner explains:
“They’re kind of like the wizard behind the curtain. They're the ones that are doing all of the setup. They're the ones that maintain all of the equipment. They know how all the equipment works,” she said.
And they will also create health care scenarios so that the students can gain experience — muscle memory. So when they're faced with that scenario in real life, they'll know what to do.
Milner, who holds a doctorate of nursing practice, said she writes scenarios in the simulation lab to help nurses-in-training go through the motions and practice the conversations they’ll have once they start working.
“One thing that I found with my graduates was they could go an entire 720 clinical hours and never experience a death, and then they graduate, pass their NCLEX (a standardized test for a nursing license), and the first day on shift, a patient passes away, right? And so, what I did is I started writing simulations where they were taking care of the patient, and then in the next scenario, the patient passed away, so they had to do the postmortem care,” she said.
A big need for sim ops specialists
It’s not just nurses who will benefit from this type of simulated, hands-on training.
“We've got premed, we've got residents, we've got practicing nurses, nursing students, graduate-level nurses. We have CRNAs (certified registered nurse anesthetists) here in-house at CAMLS. We have pharmacy that comes in and does simulation, physical therapy, PA (physician’s assistants), plus we have industry that does some simulation as well,” Milner said.
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Milner said there’s a big need for simulation operation specialists, not just in medicine, but across many fields, including in the military and private industry.
“In health care, we have a huge gap in trained simulation operation specialists, and our sim ops are so integral to simulation,” she said.
Milner said this course of study gives people who don’t see themselves becoming nurses or doctors a way to have a hand in helping patients in a health care setting.
And 100% of those with bachelor degrees who wanted a job after completing USF’s 2024 internship pilot program did so, with starting salaries in the mid-$60,000s.
“I think this concentration really will equip our students with the expertise so they'll be able to come in and manage a sim center, manage the equipment, the high-fidelity mannequins, and again, provide them with that career ladder. They're not just going to go into a job. They will have the ability to professionally grow,” she said.
According to USF, the global health simulation market is projected to reach $17.4 billion by 2030.
