kidSTAR
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.
Simulation Lab
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.