For Healthcare ProfessionalsEducation KidSTAR Simulation and Resuscitation Training
Founded in 2005, kidSTAR shares and supports the vision of Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago by enhancing patient safety through education and quality improvement.
At kidSTAR, we provide a flexible learning environment for all health professionals to practice key clinical skills, develop high-quality teamwork and communication skills in a psychologically safe environment. We bring years of experience to the process of creating immersive learning experiences, both in the laboratory and the clinical setting, providing immediate review and feedback.
We operate under a basic assumption: We believe everyone participating in activities at kidSTAR is intelligent, capable, cares about doing their best, and wants to improve.
The kidSTAR Simulation Lab is an 850-square-foot teaching facility housed in the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. It serves as a forum to train physicians, trainees, nurses, ancillary clinical staff and medical students at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
The lab replicates both ward and ICU bed spaces, with fully functional headwalls, medical gases and monitoring equipment. An integrated audiovisual system allows for the playback of simulated events to augment learning. The location of the lab within the hospital allows for more frequent attendance by busy clinical staff.
The lab is also the base from which kidSTAR staff conduct in-situ (in the clinical environment) simulations across the entire institution and at partner hospitals. At least half of our simulation activities are in-situ, allowing for learners to participate in events with their normal work team in their usual environment. In-situ simulations are valuable opportunities to identify barriers to safe and effective care and unrecognized (latent) system deficits.
The kidSTAR program develops and implements simulations focusing on inter-professional teamwork, crisis resource management, and communication. To support these simulations, kidSTAR has a broad range of educational resources, including: high fidelity simulators (infant, child, adult), CPR manikins, Task trainers and simulated patient actors.
The mission of the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago’s resuscitation education program is to improve the education of employees as related to emergency events, assessment, and resuscitation. In addition, the program strives to improve the quality of care delivered in emergency situations thereby improving patient safety and reducing medical error. Lurie employees who are AHA-trained BLS instructors serve to provide Family & Friends® CPR courses to parents and caregivers of various patient populations in both inpatient and outpatient settings. Once a need for CPR instruction has been determined, BLS instructors will work with parents and caregivers to get them trained before the patient is discharged from the hospital.
The program supports over 230 education classes a year, not including those done in the community.
Resuscitation classes are held in the skills lab adjacent to KidSTAR Simulation lab. The skills lab replicates an inpatient bed space with fully functioning headwalls, medical gases, and monitoring equipment. Interprofessional BLS, PALS, ACLS, and NRP classes support collaboration amongst the different departments and disciplines. Resuscitation certification classes required for various employee roles are provided and supported by our centralized education department.
Learn more about our ENPC, TNCC and Stable Classes on our events page.
Reach the KidSTAR team at kidSTAR@luriechildrens.org.
Reach the Resuscitation team at resuscitationeducation@luriechildrens.org.
Find KidSTAR on Twitter at @kidSTAR_.
