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,What if simulation felt less like a gadget showcase and more like a mission built around patient safety? We sit down with EMS CEO Lou Faustini to explore how engineered learning environments, clear data, and a people-first culture can transform clinical training from first exposure to real practice. Lou’s journey—from systems integration and Six Sigma to the helm of a simulation company—shapes a pragmatic approach to innovation: empower teams, listen to educators, and ship improvements that reduce friction in busy centers.

We dig into what EMS actually builds: integrated software and hardware that turn sim centers into reliable, high-impact training spaces. Lou connects the dots between flight simulators and clinical readiness, reminding us that safety is the ultimate outcome. Instead of chasing trends, he breaks down how AI can enhance scheduling, assessment, and debriefing by making performance data more usable for faculty and learners. The human remains in charge; AI simply accelerates insight and consistency.

The conversation maps the broader learning journey, where AR and VR have earned a real slice of training, and where interoperability matters as much as any single tool. Lou shares why small, practical wins—like lowering power consumption and simplifying interfaces—can deliver outsized value when educators are stretched thin. His growth priorities are refreshingly direct: meet programs where they are, be honest about capabilities, design for scale, and prove impact through data. That clarity fosters trust across institutions, partners, and the wider public safety mission.

If you care about simulation that actually changes outcomes, this episode offers a grounded playbook: empower people, harness data, and engineer for reliability. Subscribe, share with a colleague who runs a sim center, and leave a review with your biggest simulation challenge so we can tackle it next.

Innovative SimSolutions.
Your turnkey solution provider for medical simulation programs, sim centers & faculty design.

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Innovative SimSolutions.
Your turnkey solution provider for medical simulation programs, sim centers & faculty design.

Send us a text

We explore how simulation and VR turn abstract lessons into action, helping students build clinical judgment through safe mistakes, clear feedback, and repeatable practice. Dr. Stephanie Justice shares practical setup tips, leadership lessons, and a realistic roadmap for immersive learning.

• simulation as a safe space to learn and fail
• debriefing to build clinical judgment and confidence
• VR for repetition, scale, and AI-driven feedback
• hygiene, battery life, and hardware management
• staffing models with asynchronous labs and student workers
• breakthrough student moments in high fidelity and VR
• leadership growth through NLN’s program
• the future with mixed reality and better analytics
• practical advice for starting and iterating
• wellness uses of headsets beyond patient care

Be sure to check them out at xrenegades.com or on LinkedIn
Visit us at www.innovativesimsolutions.com
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What if the next breakthrough in healthcare simulation isn’t a device, but the proof that changes patient outcomes? We sit down with Matt Charnetski —paramedic turned technologist turned incoming president of the Society for Simulation in Healthcare—to chart a path from personal experience to system-level impact. Matt’s journey starts in Antarctic search and rescue and lands in board leadership, stitching together IT chops, clinical practice, and a bias for service that opened doors and built programs others can use.

Across this conversation, we get specific about what growth should mean for a global simulation community. Matt lays out a simple mandate: make pathways to serve obvious, invite more voices to the table, and treat partnerships with international organizations as two-way streets. As IMSH grows, he pushes for smarter matching between people and content, smaller communities inside big events, and technology that helps newcomers navigate without getting lost. It’s scale with intimacy, and it turns attendance into collaboration.

When we pivot to innovation, Matt targets the evidence gap. We already measure satisfaction and short-term learning; the leap is linking simulation to clinical outcomes, determining the right dose of practice, and funding the early work that proves it. That’s where the Ascend mentorship program and early career research grants come in—structured guidance, two-mentor support, and resources that turn good ideas into publishable studies and effective curricula. The payoff is a field that can defend its value in outcomes, not just anecdotes.

Matt’s why is human. A family story about communication in hospitals became a lesson he carried into paramedicine and now into leadership: teamwork is treatment. That’s why he invests in the people who teach, operate, and research simulation, because their impact cascades to learners and patients. If you care about inclusive leadership, meaningful mentorship, and research that moves the needle, this conversation will give you a clear map—and an invitation to join in.

If this resonated, follow and share the show, leave a rating or review, and tell us: what proof would help you advance simulation where you work?

Website URL:

https://ems-works.com/

LinkedIn URL:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/630796/

Innovative SimSolutions.
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What does it take to build safer clinicians, not just better test takers? We sit down with pediatric critical care pioneer and simulation leader Tonya Schneidereith to trace a career defined by curiosity, courage, and a relentless focus on patient safety. From early days as one of the first PICU nurse practitioners in the country to associate director of simulation at Johns Hopkins, Tonya reveals how mentorship, research, and design thinking shaped her approach to teaching and assessment.

We dig into her medication safety work using Google Glass to capture the learner’s point of view, exposing why accurate math still leads to dangerous IV pump programming when context is missing. That insight led to national recommendations on verifying dosage calculation competence and a sharper focus on debriefing. Tanya shares a memorable morphine case where most learners turned up oxygen as ventilation failed, and how a single probing question in debrief uncovered the real driver behind a “correct” action. The lesson is clear: simulation must illuminate decision-making, not just outcomes.

Tonya also opens the doors to SIMPL Simulation, the consultancy she co-founded to elevate faculty development, program design, and simulation operations. She walks us through a bold project with BSA LifeStructures and Wake Tech Community College: a true simulation hospital spanning EMS arrival, diagnostics, acute care rooms, an operating room, and a live MRI. It’s a blueprint for interprofessional education that makes teamwork the default. We then explore responsible AI in healthcare simulation, drawing on a new white paper Tonya helped shape. Ethical integration, transparent limits, and scenario design that builds judgment are essential as AI becomes part of daily clinical work.

If you care about better debriefing, safer medication practices, AI in nursing education, and simulation spaces that teach as powerfully as people do, this conversation will sharpen your approach. Listen, share with your team, and tell us the one change you’ll make in your next sim. Subscribe for more expert stories and leave a review to help others find the show.

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A near-drowning in the Norwegian fjords set a family on a path that would change how the world learns to save lives. We sit down with Jon Laerdal, Chief Product Officer at Laerdal Medical, to explore the unlikely journey from toy design to Resusci Anne, from classroom CPR to on‑the‑unit practice that measurably improves survival.

Jon pulls back the curtain on how evidence and guidelines have shaped Laerdal’s resuscitation portfolio and why RQI—Resuscitation Quality Improvement—now embedded in 3,000 U.S. hospitals, is redefining competency with low‑dose, high‑frequency training. We dive into the Safer Births program in Tanzania, co‑created with the American Academy of Pediatrics and Jhpiego, where frequent, team‑based simulations on the ward correlate with dramatic reductions in newborn and maternal deaths. The thread through it all is a simple, rigorous idea: put practice where care happens, make it frequent, and let data guide improvement.

We also talk about the tech landscape without the hype. VR and mixed reality bring decision‑making into virtual and blended spaces, while AI lightens scenario design and powers more responsive debriefs. But the payoff comes when these tools join a circular learning model—reading, skills, simulation, team training, and clinical practice—connected by actionable insights. That is where simulation evolves from a one‑off event to a quality improvement engine that exposes latent safety threats and closes the gap between training and therapy.

If more than half of global deaths stem from time‑critical emergencies, preparing responders everywhere is not optional; it’s urgent. Jon shares Laerdal’s goal to help save one million more lives by 2030 and offers concrete steps educators and leaders can take to build cultures of practice that stick. Subscribe, share with a colleague who champions simulation, and leave a review with one question you want us to ask our next guest.

Innovative SimSolutions.
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What happens when you take simulation out of the lab and put it at the center of global health strategy? We sit down with Dr. Pam Jeffries and Dr. Lennox Haung—co‑chairs of the Global Network for Simulation in Healthcare (GNSH)—to unpack how thought leadership, diversity, and real‑world constraints are reshaping the field for measurable impact.

We dig into what sets GNSH apart from traditional associations: no vendor floor, no siloed tracks, and a laser focus on big system challenges like patient safety, workforce resilience, health economics, and the rapid rise of AI. You’ll hear the story behind the 30‑minute team engagement initiative, a concise, team‑ready approach built from real patient cases that scaled during COVID and proved simulation can fit busy clinical workflows while improving outcomes. Pam and Lennox share how bi‑directional learning between low‑ and high‑resource settings sparks innovations that actually spread, and why bringing CEOs, educators, clinicians, regulators, and industry into the same room changes product roadmaps and policy priorities.

We also look ahead: precision learning, extended reality, and AI‑driven feedback loops that turn simulation into a continuous, data‑informed practice. From defining AI competencies for health professions to translating simulation into capital projects and policy pilots, the path forward is practical and urgent. And if you’re curious about where the world’s sim leaders are heading next, get a preview of the Copenhagen summit—Navigating AI, Economic Investment, and Impact for Global Health Transformation—along with easy ways to connect virtually and at major conferences.

If you care about safer care, smarter training, and systems that learn faster, this conversation offers a roadmap you can act on today. Subscribe, share with a colleague, and leave a review with the one change you’d make to scale simulation in your setting.

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Katie Cushman, Simulation Operations Specialist at Atrium Health, shares her journey from nursing student to healthcare simulation professional and how finding her niche in simulation technology combines her passions for healthcare, education, and technology.

• Transitioned from nursing school to pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Healthcare Simulation after realizing bedside nursing wasn't the right fit
• Gained first meaningful exposure to simulation technology at a human-patient simulation day, seeing mannequins in action
• Completed specialized education covering simulation foundations, education principles, operations, research and administration
• Enjoys the technical aspects of working with simulation mannequins and problem-solving when technology challenges arise
• Creates realistic simulations including organ procurement scenarios with Life Share and injury simulations for military training
• Develops pipeline programs introducing middle and high school students to healthcare simulation as a career option
• Recently earned CHSOS certification and aspires to eventually become a Certified Healthcare Simulation Educator and SSH Fellow
• Values mentorship and connections within the simulation community

Contact Katie Cushman at Kathryn.Cushman@advocatehealth.org or find her on LinkedIn to learn more about careers in healthcare simulation.

Innovative SimSolutions.
Your turnkey solution provider for medical simulation programs, sim centers & faculty design.