“They’d jump,” Sharene Pascoe laughs, recalling the response of some clinicians, when simulation educators used new equipment installed in the simulation facility after it opened in 2013.
“Oh, the manikin talks,” they’d be relieved to realise.
These days, realistic simulation is a familiar part of health training. But when UCRH’s Simulation Centre was finding its feet, the idea of practising medical scenarios with talking manikins was still new to many of the clinicians walking through the door.
Rural health education has changed a lot in 25 years, but some things are eternal: people still learn better when they can have a go, make a mistake, perhaps have a laugh, and try again.
For Sharene, that idea sat at the heart of UCRH’s early simulation work. Before the Simulation Centre became the busy, technology-rich space it is today, she was working across the Northern NSW health system, supporting emergency departments throughout the region.
In the early 2010s, UCRH and the Northern NSW Local Health District joined forces to pursue the shared vision of a dedicated simulation facility. Backed by more than $2.4 million in funding through Health Workforce Australia, the project would create a purpose-built training centre to practise skills, build confidence and learn in a safe environment. It reflected a simple idea that still holds true – better training helps build a stronger rural health workforce.
The challenge was that there was no blueprint for the Northern Rivers.
Sharene was seconded to UCRH as part of the project and joined the team working to bring the vision to life. It was a fact-finding effort at first, with visits to established simulation centres, seeking advice from those already working in the field and exploring what would work for a region built around small hospitals, dispersed communities and a growing health workforce.
What emerged was distinctly Northern Rivers and the new centre became a hub for learning, with a strong focus on ensuring health professionals across the region could benefit from the opportunities it created. It was a practical response to the unique challenges of rural health.
The early days were inventive and occasionally very funny. Sharene helped run simulation sessions, often providing the voice of the patient lying in the bed. Students loved it. Some clinicians were less sure at first.
But the uncertainty rarely lasted. People quickly settled in, practising skills they might rarely encounter in day-to-day work. Sessions often ended in laughter, relief and comments like “that was the best course I’ve ever done”.
That spirit of hands-on learning still runs through the Simulation Centre today. In 2025, UCRH became the first site in Australia to receive MamaAnne, a world-class maternal and birthing simulator that helps students and health professionals practise complex obstetric emergencies in a safe environment.
It is a long way from those first conversations and early manikins. Today, MamaAnne can help train the next generation of rural health professionals using technology that would have seemed remarkable when the Centre first opened. As Sharene reflects, UCRH has become “a standout facility” for the region. Looking at today’s Simulation Centre, it is easy to see why.
