The School of Medicine is one of three schools within the College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Science at the National University of Ireland in Galway. The school offers a wide range of taught and research based postgraduate masters and diploma programmes.

The CSI Medical Centre building was refurbished to create a new simulation centre. The building incorporates a number of teaching spaces, surgical skills labs, manikin operating theatres and treatment rooms.

Drama by Design were engaged by the University to carry out the detailed design, coordination, project management, testing and commissioning of all the AV systems throughout the building. This included both teaching AV systems and the Simulation Management system which incorporates a video capture/playback/debrief system for monitoring and reviewing student work.

All rooms are equipped with IP cameras, microphone arrays and video capture devices for recording vital signs from manikins. With cameras above each bed bay and around the rooms, simulations and scenarios can be streamed live for debrief and reflection. They can also be saved to Cloud servers for review and reusable content either on or off site.

The AV systems and recording systems were supplied and installed by separate integrators, the system design was fully coordinated for seamless integration. All cameras were specified with dual outputs, one for the recording system and the other for the AV system. Signals from all microphones were distributed via digital matrix processors and Dante to both systems. This not only reduced costs, but also enables audio levels and presets for the recording system to be setup and recalled on the AV system touch panels.

There are two Manikin rooms, one an operating theatre. These are equipped with overhead loudspeakers linked to both the teaching AV system for program sound and the simulation system for talkback. Loudspeakers are also provided at each bed bay for replay of patient voice for the simulators. A dynamic beamforming microphone array provides audio pick-up anywhere in each room.

Four Clinical Skills teaching and debriefing spaces are equipped with custom designed height adjustable ‘L’ shaped lecterns incorporating an area for demonstrating clinical skills and an area for computer operation. The rooms are also equipped with beam forming microphone arrays and 4K large format displays for viewing high resolution images and the output from 4K cameras above the lecterns.

Manikins can be connected to the system with vital signs displayed on in room displays and outputted to the recording system.