Sunday, June 1, 2025
6/1/2025
Community Project Funding/Congressionally Directed Spending - Construction - Anchorage (UAA) to expand the capacity of existing programs by improving and enhancing opportunities for high-fidelity simulations in the provision of healthcare education. These objectives will be met by renovating existing space to create a state-of-the-art simulation and skills-based training facility to sustain and expand student education in health programs, with a particular focus on nursing students. The current funding proposal is for Phase III of a larger project and would approximately double the space available for clinical simulation and hands-on learning with a targeted focus on nursing students. Well-designed simulation provides a potential mechanism to reduce the amount of time students must spend in a clinical facility to achieve competency, thus allowing programs to expand capacity more readily. The UAA Sally Monserud Hall (SMH) renovation project will advance multiple health workforce development objectives for one of Alaska’s most critical economic sectors. This benefits the communities and residents of Alaska by: (1) meeting high demand and/or regional health workforce needs; (2) increasing innovative work-based learning opportunities at the UAA; and (3) improving access to and flexibility of education delivery. The current proposal is for Phase III of the overall SMH renovation project and will encompass the following specific aspects of the renovation: ? Simulation Support Room: The Simulation Support Room will be used to store the many pieces of equipment and miscellaneous appurtenances required to support the four simulation rooms and their respective control rooms. It provides a workspace for the case creation and preparation to ensure more realistic simulations and scenarios. The Simulation Support Room also provides a safe storage environment to securely and properly store equipment to prevent damage and misuse. ? Virtual Reality (VR) Room: The VR Room will be used to supplement the simulation training provided by the Simulation Rooms and will have projection capability to present simulations. The projection will be able to portray any environment to maximize flexibility and usability. Due to the blank canvas space, it can be used to set up for any environment needed to further develop the case and enhance the learning experience. ? Simulation Suite Circulation: This space is needed to allow for the natural circulation and flow of foot traffic between simulation spaces, debrief rooms, corridors, and other training spaces. It provides complete control of testing environments and student access. It can be used as part of the simulation scenario to practice transferring patients in a multi case situation. ? Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) rooms: These will allow students to practice and demonstrate clinical skills under standardized medical scenarios. The development and practicing of skills related to physical examinations, clinical reasoning, medical knowledge, and the integration of these skills will be carried out in the OSCEs. It is a controlled environment for testing scenarios that mimic board certification and exams. ? Standardized Patient (SP) Space/Home Care Simulation: This room is dual purpose and will be used as an area for “trained patients” (also referred to as Standardized Patients) to prepare for training exercises used in clinical instruction. It is critical that SPs have a dedicated space to prepare in private for medical training scenarios in order to present the most realistic scenarios to students. The SPs must be kept out of the space students traverse to ensure the scenario is realistic and safe. The space will further be used to simulate scenarios where health care is being provided in a patient’s home. Students can enter the home environment to practice skills needed in a setting outside the hospital.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).