Responding to changing demands on education throughout the health care profession, URMC is creating the Center for Experiential Learning (CEL) – a new resource aimed at both improving the way professionals are taught throughout their careers, and supporting innovative educational programs for the entire Medical Center campus.

The CEL will offer the tools, expertise and services to train URMC’s health care professionals across all units of the Medical Center and to help them maintain and update their skills and knowledge. The CEL also will create and support inter-professional educational programs and partnerships involving Strong Memorial Hospital, Highland Hospital, Eastman Institute for Oral Health, School of Nursing, School of Medicine and Dentistry, Nursing Practice, Graduate Medical Education, community providers, and beyond.

The CEL is a major pillar in the Medical Center’s strategic education planning and is a vital part of the Medical Center’s ability to practice safe, effective and compassionate clinical care.  The ultimate educational outcome for the CEL will be improved patient care, provided by well-trained teams of health care providers in all disciplines.

To launch the CEL, the Medical Center is using the Office of Educational Resources (OER) as a foundation on which to build enhanced educational services, such as curriculum design, assessment, educational research and faculty development. The services currently provided by OER, including simulation, standardized patients and the anatomical gift program, will become a component of the CEL and will be accessible to all educational programming within URMC.

The CEL officially opens March 1 in the current OER location, and plans are being explored for future modernization of this space to meet changes in technology and learning environments that support experiential learning. As of March 1, you can access the services and reach the Center for Experiential Learning at (585) 275-7666.

Sarah E. Peyré, Ed.D, will be the Director of the Center for Experiential Learning. She is an educational psychologist who has a decade of experience in simulation and health professions education. Prior to joining the faculty at URMC, she served as the Director of Education and Research for the STRATUS Center for Medical Simulation at the Brigham and Women's Hospital and was on faculty at Harvard Medical School.

The CEL grew out of the efforts of Linda Spillane, M.D., who as Assistant Dean of Simulation for SMD, led multidisciplinary focus groups of stakeholders to better understand how simulation and experiential learning are used at the Medical Center. Through the work of Dr. Spillane, the institution recognized emerging needs for preparing trainees and practitioners learn and lead in the ever-changing health care environment. With the creation of CEL, URMC will be able to deliver progressive professional education that crosses divisional silos and provide educational programming that is on par with our peer institutions.

Simulation-based training and other experiential learning modalities are fast becoming the gold standard in health professions education. Using simulation—including standardized patients, simple task trainers, computer-enhanced patient mannequins, procedural trainers and virtual reality—physicians, nurses and other health care providers can master basic manipulative skills, complex cognitive and interdisciplinary teamwork skills and challenging technical procedures without risk to patients.

Simulation is an essential component of continuing professional education. Providers can practice new techniques as well as hone core skills through simulated environments. Specialty certification credentialing organizations increasingly are requiring simulation to measure competency.

Health care, more and more, also demands teamwork and collaboration across specialties and disciplines.  The CEL will expand opportunities for inter-professional team and collaborative training throughout the Medical Center. Finally, the CEL also will conduct research on the science of learning and assessing performance across the continuum of our learners, from trainee to practitioner.

In other words, the CEL offers what today’s health care professional needs and expects from a complex academic medical center’s educational programs.  A successful, well-used CEL will support excellence in patient care and safety and aid in recruiting and retaining talented physicians, nurses, students, scientists and other professionals.

Peyre received her Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the University of California at Berkeley, her Master in Science of Medical Education and Doctorate in Educational Psychology from the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California.