From left, Ginny Fuller, assistant vice president, Development; Audra Lewis, PhD, MSN, RN, CHSE, nursing director for the PAC Sim Lab; Pamela Linzer, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, associate chief nursing officer for the BWH Center for Nursing Excellence and the BWFH Center for Nursing Professional Development; William Chin, MD, donor; Andrew Eyre, MD, MS, medical director, Neil and Elise Wallace STRATUS Center for Medical Simulation; and Patricia A. Chin, RN, DSc, donor, during a tour of the PAC Sim Lab before the dedication ceremony.

From pumps and pressors to foley catheters and arterial lines, the Patrica A. Chin Nursing Simulation Lab (or PAC Sim for short) has everything nurses need to hone clinical skills, collaboration and communication – except the stress and pressure that come with real-life care situations.

“The PAC Sim Lab has a nursing specific focus and was built to the specifications of the technology and equipment used by nurses in direct patient care, making it a familiar and comfortable environment,” said Stephanie Grande Sloat, MSN, RN, CCRN, TCRN, professional development manager for Burn, Trauma and Surgical Critical Care.

Nurses from the Burn, Trauma and Surgical ICU and Intermediate nurses participate in a burn resuscitation and wound care course in the Patricia A. Chin Nursing Simulation Lab.

The Burn, Trauma and Surgical ICU and intermediate nurses were the first group to host a clinical skills and education session in the lab, which opened its doors in September 2024. Located within the Neil and Elise Wallace STRATUS Center for Medical Simulation, the lab includes two nursing-focused rooms, a multipurpose conference room, a debriefing room and top-notch equipment and supplies.

“The simulation mannequins are made to look very authentic, which allowed our nurses to assess and determine the depth and percentage of total body surface area burns during an education session, just as they would in a real-world scenario,” said Grande Sloat. “The lab allows instructors to plan for what will occur with the ‘patient,’ and then direct the event and watch as nurses respond. Because these scenarios are in a controlled, non-consequential environment, it eases the stress on the nurses, but still allows for significant learning of crucial knowledge and skills.”

The PAC Sim Lab was created for exactly this purpose.

“Simulation-based training and innovative models of education have become essential elements to preparing our nurses, clinicians and team members for the situations they are facing,” said Pamela Linzer, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, associate chief nursing officer for the BWH Center for Nursing Excellence and the BWFH Center for Nursing Professional Development. “The PAC Sim Lab will support all nurses – from novice to expert – in honing their skills, ultimately leading to better patient care. It will be a safe space for collaboration, innovation, team building and empowerment through learning.”

Over the course of a year, Linzer and the Center for Nursing Excellence leadership team brought the vision for the lab to reality, thanks to a $5 million gift from Pat and Bill Chin and the Chin Family Foundation. In Pat, for whom the lab is named, the BWH team had a donor and partner who deeply understood the need for such a space.

“As a nurse and nurse educator, I want to help nurses improve their communication and technical skills,” said Chin, former director of the Cal State LA School of Nursing. “In a sim lab, the mannequin models ask questions and give feedback, and augmented reality shows virtual information in the room to act out a scenario. It’s just incredible and helps improve teamwork and decision-making.”

For Grande Sloat and her team, the lab provides unique opportunities for education in complex burn care techniques that are hard to replicate in any other kind of environment.

“We teach Major Burn IV fluid resuscitation, and the PAC Sim Lab is an ideal venue to run through the first 24 hours of this protocol. Time can truly be sped up here, which allows the nurses to seamlessly move ‘hour to hour’ within just a few minutes,” she said. “Because of this, we are able to recreate the first full day of admission for a patient who has been burned over a large surface area of their body. The frequency and nature of burns are incredibly unpredictable, but the PAC Sim Lab allows us to simulate these scenarios at any time.”

The lab’s team works with professional development managers like Grande Sloat in planning for courses to ensure nurses have a realistic experience that maximizes learning.

“Thanks to the Chin family’s generous gift and the collaboration between STRATUS operations and the nursing education teams, we now have the ability to make a significant impact on nurses’ confidence, competence, and patient outcomes,” said Audra Lewis, PhD, MSN, RN, CHSE, the first nursing director for the PAC Sim Lab. “This gift allows us to offer targeted learning experiences through simulation, ensuring that training can be tailored to meet the needs of nurses at all experience levels. By focusing on specific learning outcomes, we are able to enhance the professional development of nurses and ultimately improve patient care.”

Audra Lewis, PhD, MSN, RN, CHSE, nursing director for the PAC Sim Lab; Pamela Linzer, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, associate chief nursing officer for the BWH Center for Nursing Excellence and the BWFH Center for Nursing Professional Development, and Julia Mason, DNP, MBA, RN, CENP, chief nursing officer and senior vice president for Patient Care Services, during the dedication ceremony.

During a dedication ceremony in September, nurses and hospital leaders gathered to thank the Chin family and celebrate the lab’s completion.

“The Chins recognize the invaluable role that our nurses play in every part of our mission – and the importance of investing in their training and expertise,” said BWH President Giles Boland, MD. “We are deeply grateful for their generosity and vision.”

Julia Mason, DNP, MBA, RN, CENP, chief nursing officer and senior vice president of Patient Care Services, agreed.

“Our nurses provide complex care that requires expertise in many areas, continuous learning to keep up with the latest treatment and therapies, and immense collaboration among team members,” she said. “The PAC Sim Lab enables us to enhance the education and training we provide to support our nurses in advancing their practice and delivering world-class care to our patients.”