UT Arlington School of Nursing, a Laerdal Center of Excellence in Simulation and a Hill-Rom National Demonstration Showcase, is on the leading edge of  innovations in health care education allowing students to experience a wide variety of patient disease conditions without leaving the campus. The Smart Hospital, a state-of-the-science education center, allows students to learn utilizing simulation technology including: full body interactive patient simulators (like SimMan® and SimBaby®), computerized scenario-based programs and individual trainers for specific skills like starting IV's. All of these allow students to be well prepared to intervene in all situations before entering into real life patient care. The need for increased simulation learning prompted the creation of the Smart Hospital which is being built in three phases.
 
PHASE 1-- Phase I of the Smart Hospital was a series of virtual hospital settings located within the current School of Nursing. The 7,000 sq ft. of classroom space reached capacity with demands escalating to meet the needs of 650 students and external requests by health care agencies. A $496,000 Congressionally Directed grant provided the funding for the Phase I Smart Emergency Department.

PHASE 2-- Using funds from the UT System and the Amon Carter Foundation, the school has opened a 13,000 sq. ft. facility on campus. This facility allows for innovative uses of more than 30 manikins and other simulation technology. Working with health care architectural designers, this setting was converted into a “state-of-the-science health care environment” for student  learning, research and development of  hospital systems and new products, vendor showcasing, and competency evaluations of employees within the health care workforce and community service professions. 

Phase 3--SMART HOSPITAL AND HEALTH SYSTEM – The School of Nursing plans to build a 100,000 sq. ft. facility to house the Smart Hospital and Health System (SHHS). The SHHS will be a 60 bed virtual hospital with 60 simulated patients serving as a regional and national demonstration center. It will be a site for multidisciplinary health care education and evaluation of clinical competency, workforce and product development and health care research.  The SHHS will also be constructed to serve as a community resource for disaster response. Bringing together a collaborative team of UT Arlington and external researchers, the SHHS will provide evidence-based data for wide reaching changes in education and health care systems.