Northumbria University has invested £750k in a new, interactive teaching facility, set to be one of the biggest of its kind in the country.
Established 15 years ago, the Clinical Skills Centre at the University is used to teach a range of healthcare professionals.
The investment will increase the centre’s capacity and capability to deliver high quality simulation-based education through the establishment of an extensive range of flexible learning and teaching spaces.
Both undergraduate/pre-registration students and postgraduate/post qualified medical, health and social care professionals will benefit from the development, according to the university.
The work, which has taken place over the past 12 months, also complements the current extensive range of task trainers and patient simulators with an array of new, state of the art technologies and equipment.
Features include a centre wide telecommunication system, a full HD audio-visual system, SMOTs™, with a series of fixed and mobile cameras, a succession of interactive monitor displays, and virtual reality headsets.
Dr Alison Machin, Associate Professor in Nursing, Midwifery and Health at Northumbria University said: “Northumbria boasts one of the most advanced skills environments for teaching and learning nationally and this additional investment will ensure we continue to be at the cutting edge in simulation learning.
“The Centre’s ability to run three fully immersive virtual reality training environments simultaneously is unique in the North East and one of only a handful across the UK.
“Thanks to this investment, our students and professionals will receive the most realistic training environment possible bar none.”