Future health professionals will practise their skills using life-like dummies, monitored using computer technology, in simulation laboratories being set up in  Albury and Wodonga public hospitals. The project, which was possible due to funding made available by Health Workforce Australia, will help prepare doctors, nurses and allied health professionals for their chosen professions in rural and remote Australia by exposing them to ‘real life’ simulations monitored by some of the nation’s leading health educators, whether they be in regional or metropolitan areas. The local project is due to be completed by the middle of 2013. CSU’s cting Associate Dean in the Faculty of Science and project leader, Associate Professor Megan Smith, said simulations that replicate real scenarios have been found to provide valuable training while also increasing opportunities for clinical training. “Large simulation centres have been set up in metropolitan hospitals for many years, and we now have these educational opportunities available in regional Australia with these facilities,” she said.