East Tennessee Children's Hospital (ETCH)
East Tennessee Children’s Hospital (ETCH) Simulation Center

Healthcare:
Medical Education and Clinical Simulation Centers

BarberMcMurry Architects of Knoxville, TN chose to partner with Lavallee Brensinger Architects to deliver national expertise and programming in simulation to The Eastern Tennessee Children’s Hospital. The Discovery Innovation and Simulation Center (DISC) is an unprecedented 11,788 SF state-of-the-art facility containing a wide range of simulation spaces: two fully functional NICU and ICU patient rooms, Inpatient Laboratory, Emergency Department  Trauma / Procedure lab, Skills Lab, Family Skills lab, a Virtual Reality lab, Training rooms, and multipurpose rooms equipped with sliding partitions dedicated to innovation, collaboration, research and development, and even 3D printers.

DISC is groundbreaking in pediatric medicine, allowing staff to elevate the quality of their patient care and outcomes through continuing education and training. The Center is designed to promote a high level of utilization and flexibility, supported by decentralized staff support and storage space easily accessible to the simulation labs.

The Innovation Center opened in March 2020, just as the world shut down do to the COVID-19 pandemic. The space was immediately utilized as intended, becoming an area for creative problem-solving: when medical supplies ran short globally, COVID-19 testing swabs were able to be 3D printed on site.