The STEPS Skills Centre (Skills Training Education Proficiency Simulation) is a multidisciplinary hub where students and healthcare providers can practice clinical skills, simulate complex care situations, and collaborate across disciplines in a safe and realistic environment. Located on the Health Sciences Campus Gasthuisberg, the centre serves as a crucial link between education and practice.
"The idea behind STEPS was to build a place where students and healthcare providers can train and retrain in lifelike conditions," says Paul Herijgers, CEO of UZ Leuven and former dean of the Faculty of Medicine. "A pleasant and realistic learning environment where they can practice safely and learn from their mistakes not only protects patients but also gives learners the confidence to enter healthcare practice well-prepared."
STEPS hosts an innovative pilot project for interprofessional simulation training. Students from the first master's in medicine at KU Leuven and fourth-year nursing students from UCLL practice lifelike care situations together, learning to collaborate during their studies as they will in clinical practice. They adopt their professional roles, using their medical knowledge and skills in clinical reasoning, communication, decision-making, and teamwork to manage situations. Each simulation is followed by an extensive debriefing.
"With this new skills centre, we aim to bring the reality of healthcare as close as possible to education," responds Maissa Rayyan, academic lead for STEPS. "Students train here not alongside each other, but with each other: doctors and nurses from their own professional roles, together as one team. Because in real healthcare, it's not just individual expertise that makes the difference. It's how healthcare providers communicate, collaborate, and make decisions together that ultimately leads to safe and quality patient care."
The centre combines various learning methods, from basic skills and simulation education to virtual reality, immersive technology, and highly realistic care scenarios. The building's architecture mirrors the training progression: the higher floors feature more complex learning environments with high-tech settings for simulating critical medical situations.
Beyond students, the centre will eventually offer permanent training, continuing education, and interprofessional training for doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals. "With this new skills centre, we are investing not only in infrastructure but, above all, in the healthcare professionals who will shape the care of tomorrow," concludes Chris Verslype, dean of the Faculty of Medicine.
