{"id":4942,"date":"2026-01-05T06:00:24","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T11:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/?p=4942"},"modified":"2026-01-05T10:21:53","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T15:21:53","slug":"health-care-simulated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/2026\/01\/health-care-simulated\/","title":{"rendered":"Health Care Simulated"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jennifer McCarthy shapes her students into compassionate, capable healthcare professionals through clinical simulation.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Having worked as a paramedic for over 35 years, Jennifer McCarthy has experienced life\u00a0and death in many forms. She has resuscitated patients in cardiac arrest, responded to\u00a0<\/span>fatal car crashes and\u00a0given\u00a0lifesaving care to patients slipping into anaphylactic shock.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The vulnerability of life continues to influence McCarthy at Seton Hall, where she is the\u00a0<\/span>founding director of clinical simulation for the School of Health and Medical Sciences<\/a>. Though\u00a0she\u2019s\u00a0no longer working in emergency settings, she is charting new pathways in patient-centered healthcare education that emphasize the power of human connection,\u00a0compassion\u00a0and communication. Her work uses high-tech patient simulators alongside humans standing in as patients throughout the clinical simulation coursework to bring cases to life.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cClinical simulation in health care is often viewed as some kind of alternate reality, a\u00a0hypertechnology\u00a0place. Yes, we do have impressive, immersive spaces at Seton Hall,\u201d McCarthy says, referring to the University\u2019s Interprofessional Health Sciences Campus in Nutley, New Jersey. \u201cWhat distinguishes us, though, is what we are doing within this\u00a0high-technology\u00a0enriched environment.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

McCarthy\u2019s commitment to human-centered health care permeates the\u00a0simulation\u00a0curricula throughout the school. She collaborates with the faculty and staff to design programming tailored for each clinical professional program: athletic training, occupational\u00a0<\/span>therapy, physician assistant, physical\u00a0therapy\u00a0and speech-language pathology. The programs incorporate professionally trained stand-in patients to portray different healthcare scenarios and be the voices of the high-tech patient simulators they use throughout clinical simulation\u00a0coursework. McCarthy also co-developed a first-of-its-kind leadership simulation focused on conflict resolution for the school\u2019s healthcare administration graduate students.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so important that we go beyond preparing our students to master a checklist of skills,\u201d says McCarthy, who is one of only about 100 educators globally with advanced-level certification through the International Society for Simulation in Healthcare. \u201cFor simulation programming to be truly effective, students need experiences that push them to transform as healthcare practitioners.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Transformation, she says, is a purposeful\u00a0objective. \u201cThis is where human vulnerabilities are laid bare, and not only in terms of understanding patients\u2019 life experiences. Here we are encouraging our students to lean into their own discomforts, whether\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0facing an unprecedented or even triggering situation, or having a difficult conversation,\u201d she says. \u201cThey will grow into resilient,\u00a0capable\u00a0and confident professionals by tapping into their vulnerabilities and allowing themselves to transform. We are here to create that psychologically safe, trusting environment to bring that out of them.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Dominique Adornetto, a student in the physical therapy doctoral program, attests to the impact of\u00a0the clinical\u00a0simulation programming. She values\u00a0the hands-on skills training and appreciates the presentation of diverse scenarios, such as inpatient\u00a0and outpatient settings, acute care, pediatric cases, medical device\u00a0training\u00a0and caregiver involvement.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She says she is grateful for McCarthy\u2019s\u00a0confidence\u00a0building mentality and for being a calming presence\u00a0before \u201cnerve-wracking\u201d simulations.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHer lines ring in your ear when you need them,\u201d Adornetto says. \u201cShe reminds us to just talk to someone like a human. That might sound basic, but connecting with our patients is the foundation.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

McCarthy recalls a time in her own life when a professor\u2019s words deeply affected her, which\u00a0ultimately led\u00a0to her exploring a career in paramedicine and then expanding into healthcare simulation education. She credits her time working in emergency medical services\u00a0for shaping\u00a0her perspectives on the role of human connections in health care.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAll those patients\u2019 faces \u2014 a mosaic of their faces that I see in my mind \u2014 inspire me to have the guts to talk to our students about these moments of human connection,\u201d she says. \u201cHow these moments can ground you and give you the grit you\u2019re going to need for whatever you\u2019re going to face.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Lori (Varga) Riley, M.A. \u201806, is a freelance writer living in New Jersey.\u00a0<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jennifer McCarthy shapes her students into compassionate, capable healthcare professionals through clinical simulation.\u00a0 Having worked as a paramedic for over 35 years, Jennifer McCarthy has experienced life\u00a0and death in many forms. She has resuscitated patients in cardiac arrest, responded to\u00a0fatal car crashes and\u00a0given\u00a0lifesaving care to patients slipping into anaphylactic shock.\u00a0\u00a0 The vulnerability of life continues…<\/p>\n

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