Peconic Bay Medical Center opens new simulation lab for staff education and training

Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead celebrated the launch of a new simulation lab that will give hospital staff a dedicated immersive space to learn and hone their skills.

“While this space clearly isn’t the largest we’ve ever cut the ribbon on, it certainly will have a major presence and impact on our team for years to come,” PBMC executive director Amy Loeb said at a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday. “Innovation and growth isn’t just about buildings and large spaces, it’s about investing in our people. And this signifies our commitment to continuing education, training, and excellence.”

“This space will touch all areas of our hospital, every team — clinical and non clinical — and it will provide an extra blanket of safety for every patient that walks through our door,” Loeb added.

The simulation lab has two exam rooms for staff to train in and is named in honor of the Kanas family, who are large donors to the hospital. This is the only simulation lab of its kind available on the East End, according to hospital executives.

“We’re hopeful that these kinds of tools will help save lives, like the other things that we do here,” John Kanas said, with his wife Elaine Kanas and son, John Kanas Jr., at his side.

“I would like to share that we are so grateful to the Kanas family for their support and investment in the future of our teams here at Peconic Bay,” said Kathleen Wagner, the hospital’s director of nursing education and professional development. “Your generous gift will have an immediate effect on the competence and confidence of our nursing and interprofessional teams. However, the ripple effect will influence the safety and health of our community for years to come.”

After the ceremony, a team of nurses and nurse educators gave attendees a demonstration of what the simulation lab can do by saving the simulation’s mannequin patient, Peconic Pete.  Watch video.

“It really enhances the learning here for the nurses,” said Heather Cerola, a nurse educator. The ability to simulate on a mannequin sounds of vital organs and mimicking a cardiac arrest “really raises the bar for education here at Peconic Bay,” she said.

Although the simulation may last only a few minutes, hospital staff said there is a significant amount of time dedicated after the exercise to analyzing the staff’s performance and teaching them how they could improve. The exact scenario simulated is typically unknown to the nurses ahead of time, said Elizabeth Corwin, a nurse educator who helped run the simulation.

“Certainly, it’s a safe environment to learn, so nobody feels as if it’s going to be punitive in any sort of way,” nurse educator Agnieszka Wyszynski said. “We encourage everybody to come in and learn with us, because that’s just the best place to be for them and they feel safe to do it. And they learn how to respond without being threatened or scared or just in a panic mode, as usually happens in the real situation.”

Skyla Kloppenborg, one of the emergency department nurses who demonstrated the simulation lab, said the lab is “where you learn and grow. I think it’s an amazing thing to have here.”

“It takes it from reading out of a book to real life,” she said.