Aug 5, 2026
New regional simulation lab expands hands-on training in Southwest Virginia
For VCU nurse anesthesia students in Southwest Virginia, the operating room has always been close to reality.
Now, it’s even closer.
This spring, the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center in Abingdon dedicated its new Regional Simulation Lab, the culmination of nearly two years of planning and fundraising to create the region’s most advanced clinical training environment. The state-of-the-art facility was made possible through investments from state legislators, regional partners, nonprofit organizations and private donors committed to strengthening Southwest Virginia’s health care workforce – in a campaign led by David Matlock, SVHEC executive director.
While the regional site serves multiple health professions programs housed at the center, VCU Nurse Anesthesia now has a dedicated operating room suite designed specifically for anesthesia education. The new space more than doubles VCU’s previous simulation footprint while adding access to emergency department rooms, labor and delivery suites, an ambulance simulator and advanced technologies that create new opportunities for interdisciplinary learning.
The expansion fulfills a long-standing goal of ensuring students in Southwest Virginia receive the same high-quality simulation experiences as their classmates in Richmond.
“Simulation is essential in nurse anesthesia education,” said Crystal Hunnicutt, CRNA, assistant program director and director of Southwest operations, “It allows students to practice managing critical events in a realistic environment before they’re ever responsible for a patient’s care.”
Bringing the clinical environment to life
Simulation has long been a cornerstone of nurse anesthesia education, allowing students to master high-risk, low-frequency events in a safe environment before encountering them in the operating room.
“Anesthesia is whole-body maintenance while surgery is being performed,” Hunnicutt said. “Students need opportunities to practice those skills in realistic situations before they ever provide anesthesia to a patient.”
Until now, however, some of the department’s most advanced simulation experiences required Abingdon students to travel to Richmond because the original simulation space could not accommodate those complex cases.
“Now we can conduct those high-fidelity simulations right in Abingdon,” Hunnicutt said. “The quality of the facility allows students to experience the same advanced training regardless of where they’re enrolled.”
The new facility elevates those experiences with the latest generation of simulation technology.
Among the additions are advanced AI-enabled patient simulators capable of carrying realistic conversations with students while responding dynamically to their questions. One obstetric simulator can recreate both vaginal and cesarean deliveries, while new infant and pediatric simulators expand opportunities to train for emergencies involving the youngest patients. Digital Anatomage tables — life-sized virtual cadavers created from detailed medical imaging — allow students to peel away layers of anatomy, isolating nerves, blood vessels and organs with remarkable precision.
“We’ve always had excellent simulation training,” said Beverly George-Gay, DNP, director of distance education. “Now we have access to technology that creates even more realistic patient interactions. Students can practice everything from obtaining a health history to managing complex emergencies, and every experience builds confidence before they’re caring for real patients.”
The expanded facility also gives faculty new flexibility to design increasingly sophisticated scenarios.
For example, students can now simulate caring for a patient who develops malignant hyperthermia — a rare but life-threatening reaction to anesthesia — after being discharged from surgery. Rather than recreating the event in an operating room, faculty can stage the scenario in a realistic emergency department. This allows students to recognize the condition and respond as they would in clinical practice.
Collaboration beyond the operating room
Although the simulation center is located in Abingdon, its impact extends well beyond Southwest Virginia.
Faculty can record demonstrations using the Anatomage tables and share them with students in Richmond and Northern Virginia. Likewise, the expanded simulation capabilities reduce the need for Abingdon students to travel across the state for advanced simulation experiences.
“This gives our students the feeling that they have every opportunity available to them, no matter where they’re learning,” George-Gay said. “We work hard to create one classroom across all of our campuses.”
While VCU has a dedicated operating room simulation suite, the broader Regional Simulation Lab is intentionally designed to bring multiple health professions together. Programs in EMS, nursing, pharmacy and advanced practice nursing all share the facility, creating opportunities for interdisciplinary simulation exercises that mirror real-world patient care.
“Health care isn’t delivered in silos,” George-Gay said. “The goal is for learners from different disciplines to practice together just as they’ll care for patients together.”
Future simulation exercises are expected to bring learners together for cross-discipline scenarios, such as allowing paramedics to deliver patients to anesthesia teams, pharmacists to collaborate on medication management and nursing students to work alongside future CRNAs during complex emergencies. Those learning experiences would mirror the collaborative care environments graduates enter after completing their education.
For Hunnicutt, who grew up in Southwest Virginia, the investment represents something even larger than new technology.
Rural communities continue to face persistent shortages of health care providers. Training students close to home, she said, helps strengthen the region’s workforce because graduates who learn in rural communities are more likely to build careers there.
“It’s exciting to see this level of investment in Southwest Virginia,” Hunnicutt said. “Historically, rural areas haven’t always had access to the latest technology. Now our students have exactly that. If we can educate people where they live and provide them with exceptional training, they’re more likely to stay and serve these communities.”
Community investment creates a regional resource
The Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center’s Regional Simulation Lab became a reality through broad community collaboration led by Executive Director David Matlock. Over nearly two years, Matlock worked with state legislators, regional organizations, nonprofit partners and private donors to secure funding for the project.
VCU’s Department of Nurse Anesthesia supported the effort through letters of support and collaborated closely on designing the dedicated operating room simulation suite, with late staff member Mike Kammerman helping curate every piece of clinical equipment to mirror a modern operating room.
The finished facility includes:
- A dedicated operating room simulation suite for VCU nurse anesthesia education
- Four patient care bays
- Emergency department and labor and delivery simulation spaces
- A full-scale ambulance simulator for EMS training
- Multiple high-fidelity and AI-enabled patient simulators
- Digital anatomage tables for advanced anatomy instruction
Together, the facility creates a regional training hub that will support VCU students and foster interdisciplinary learning among future health care professionals throughout Southwest Virginia.