Aston University has opened a new £1.5m healthcare teaching facility which includes two interconnecting five-bed wards and an interactive immersive room.
The official opening ceremony was carried out by Aston University’s new Chancellor Dr Jason Wouhra, in one of his first duties since his formal installation at Aston University’s first winter graduation ceremony on 20 January 2025.
The state-of-the-art facility has been funded by the Office for Students, and will be used by nursing, physician associate, pharmacy and medical students.
The wards are designed to be realistic and include real hospital furniture and hospital headwalls with simulated gases, patient call bell system and the ability to simulate powercuts. Each ward has a nursing station and storage for consumables. There are hoists for the students to practise moving patients, including one which is ceiling mounted and can be used with bariatric patients.
The suite is equipped with diverse manikins, include those which are very elderly, a teenage cancer patient and a young girl with Down’s Syndrome. In 2023, Aston University commissioned a realistic overweight (bariatric) manikin, R42, from company Simulation Man for more realistic and inclusive training. The University has just taken delivery of a new bariatric manikin from Simulation Man with a black skin tone, the first of its kind in the UK. The manikin has a working stoma site and urinary system, a chest compression unit and an IV line.
By simulating a wide variety of hospital, domestic and outdoor settings, an interactive immersive room will also support the