Simulated training exercises have been part of medical education for more than 2,000 years. While medical and nursing students once learned their craft using statues with “veins” made of blown glass, today’s medical simulation manikins are sometimes indistinguishable from human patients. Simulation solutions allow students to practice, assess, and perfect their skills—from taking vitals to triage to surgery—with no risk to real patients. Video capture designed for debriefing further enhances the value of simulation education by allowing instructors to address specific actions and results. If you’re considering implementing a simulation system in your institution or organization, you may have a lot of questions about what will be the right solution for you, and what it will take to operate and maintain it.  Level 3’s Audiovisual's Simulation Technology & Operations Consultant is here to answer the most frequently asked questions about simulation in healthcare education.

Have you ever purchased a new piece of personal technology—a smartphone or a laptop, for example—only to find out a few days or weeks later that a new and improved version is about to drop? In the fast-paced world of personal devices, buying the latest and greatest doesn’t mean that your investment will stay that way for long. It can be frustrating to learn you spent top dollar for something that will be obsolete in a year or two. In the world of enterprise solutions, technology upgrades require huge investments and technology buyers are responsible for protecting a company’s bottom line by spending money responsibly—not to mention being accountable to a whole lot of users. The last thing you want to do is fall into the trap of spending a lot of money on a system or technology that won’t meet the organization’s needs in the long-term. You can “future-proof” your investments—and avoid unforeseen and unnecessary upgrade costs down the road—by assessing legacy systems and existing solutions, outlining strategic goals and objectives, and researching technology solutions that can meet your current and future needs.

The adage “You only get one chance to make a first impression” is just as true with places as it is people. Whether it’s a hotel, a student library, or a lobby, what we feel the moment we walk in often translates into an opinion—the hotel deal was too good to be true, I can’t see myself at this college, this company feels too corporate. And that opinion influences the decision that happens next—I’m booking a different hotel, I’m attending the other college, I’m selecting a different provider. Creating an impression that is true to your brand and your mission takes more than a skilled interior designer—it takes technology. Video walls deliver more than an impression—they create an experience. The success of video walls at stopping retail shoppers in their tracks, creating a high-end feel in hotels, helping hospital patients and visitors find their way, engaging students in learning, and delivering relevant information to lobby visitors is the reason the adoption of this solution continues to increase at impressive rates. It’s likely why you’re researching video walls and reading this blog.

We invite you to read Lessening Distractions in the Control Room before you begin reading this section. It is an introduction to the challenge for the simulationist in regard to cognitive load. This article begins a discussion on the types of technologies that will help address these challenges. 

Lessening Distractions in the Control Room assumes that you as the reader has experience with the typical control room. The reality is that each simulation program may have the control room layout designed differently. Allow us to provide a little more context for those of you who don’t have a control room.

There are as many different professional AV solutions as there are uses for them. With such a wide array of audio visual solutions available today, and as that number increases with the ongoing evolution of technology, audiovisual design and consulting services provide expert interpretation of needs and selection of AV solutions that fit the application and budget of a client.

Let’s face it, simulation control rooms could use a huge makeover; so many distractions can overwhelm most simulationists. Cognitive load refers to the total amount of mental effort being used to accomplish a set of tasks, or just one task. The human brain can only do so much before errors become a part of the effort.

An AV engineer in the past, had a skill set more focused on (surprise, surprise...) the audio and visual aspects of presentation and communication systems. Properly specifying components like speakers, amplifiers, audio processors, microphones, projectors and displays, were all in the wheel house of the AV engineer. Then control systems entered the space, and those engineers started to add knowledge on how to control many aspects of the system from button panels, then custom designed touch screens. These control systems ran on proprietary communication lines for a while, then they started to add standard network and IP connections. Now the AV engineer needs to understand networking, routers, switches and access points, and especially how to work with IT managers in charge of the customer network. This also comes into play when working with video conferencing codecs, like Cisco and Polycom. Next the "soft codec" was brought to the conference and meeting room arena, which is a term used to describe video conferencing applications running on "BYOD" devices, like laptops. Video conferencing services include Zoom, Skype for Business and WebEx. Now the AV engineer needs to deeply understand incorporating USB devices into their designs.

You like to get people involved? We get it. Let us find you the right collaboration engine for you to share one, two, four, or even more sources on a single or multiple displays for your boardroom.

• A little extra something: We can even give you the ability to moderate what sources are allowed on screen, choose your favorite collaborator to feature full screen, and mute the guy from HR that just seems to be sharing cat videos on his iPad.