Offering simulation labs, fully equipped hospital rooms and training mannequins that exhibit medical conditions, Baptist Health’s Baptist Center for Professional Excellence is up and running at 3563 Philips Highway.
Baptist provided a tour of the facility on Jan. 16, during which Baptist Health CEO Michael Mayo spent a portion of his last day on the job. The retiring Mayo will continue serve the hospital in an advisory role.
“Training and retaining your workforce and making sure they’re equipped is so important today,” Mayo said as he walked through the 42,000-square-foot center in the San Marco East Plaza.
The training facility
Baptist Health bought the plaza, a former shopping center, for $38 million on Dec. 15. The Jacksonville-based health provider said the training facility, which serves Baptist’s 15,000 employees, comprises an advanced training lab and a separate classroom component. The lab opened in July and the classroom space opened in October at a total cost of $11.5 million.
In the 13,000-square-foot simulation lab, Baptist Health re-created a hospital setting with features such as replicated operating rooms, intensive care units, patient rooms, equipment rooms and more. The lab is five times the size of the one it replaced.
Also included are training mannequins that simulate childbirth, bleeding amputations and other emergencies that trainees are likely to see in the field. Every training room has a practice arm where students can perfect drawing blood and starting IV drips.
The mannequins cost $75,000 each and range from infants to children to adult patients.
Baptist Health said that depending on the training, sessions can last for 10 to 16 weeks and accommodate up to 200 students. Trainees work in replicated rooms and are expected to problem-solve when dealing with mannequins showing signs of distress.
“Training in settings that look and feel like the real thing helps health care teams successfully navigate the complex situations they face every day,” said Daniel T. Coulter, vice president of learning and development at Baptist Health, said in a Jan. 16 news release. “It builds muscle memory, which supports consistent, quality care and better patient outcomes.”
Facility features
The release listed some of the training facility’s features:
• 20 classrooms with a with a mix of technology-enhanced and traditional learning environments.
Flexible conference spaces that can be configured based on need;
• Two operating rooms modeled after those at Baptist Health hospitals where team members can simulate surgeries with the same equipment and tools found in their day-to-day practice, enhancing both technical skills and teamwork in the operating room.
• Fully equipped spaces that replicate real clinical environments including: an intensive care unit room; two nurses’ stations; two pre-op rooms; two natal intensive care rooms; two labor, delivery, recovery and postpartum (LDRP) rooms; two pediatric rooms; two Baptist Primary Care patient rooms; four medical-surgical rooms; and two emergency department rooms.
• A full-size ambulance with working lights, sirens and sounds that mimic a diesel engine, donated by Clay County Fire Rescue to help team members gain familiarity with pre-hospital care challenges and improve collaboration with emergency responders.
Baptist Health says the training facility could quickly be converted to a fully functioning urgent care unit during a hurricane or another catastrophic event.
Future of San Marco East
The Baptist Health facility occupies a portion of the buildings at the San Marco East Plaza. No plans have been announced for the unoccupied buildings.
“We’ll look at what the best and highest use is,” Mayo said before the Jan. 16 tour. “Some of the specifics we’re looking at is a centralized logistics center for our supply chain, where we may centralize warehousing and then shipping to all of our facilities.
“We’re also evaluating a potential core laboratory operations where we can centralize lab work that’s automated. We’re actually going to look at a potential commissary, or a centralized food distribution location.”
Mayo’s future
Mayo announced in September his plans to step down after serving as CEO since 2019. He will stay on with Baptist Health in an advisory role through 2026. It will allow him to continue to serve on the board of the American Hospital Association and the Florida Hospital Association.
Gov. Ron DeSantis recently appointed Mayo to serve on the University of North Florida Board of Trustees.
Matt Zuino became president and CEO on Jan. 17. He had been the hospital’s vice president and COO.
In 2027, Mayo plans to teach at UNF.