By: Ruben Hernandez Rodriguez, Director, Ontario CLRI at Baycrest and Dr. Meaghan Adams, Manager, Simulation and Virtual Learning, Centre for Education and Knowledge Exchange in Aging, Baycrest Academy for Research and Education
Health care in Ontario is becoming increasingly digital, complex and specialized, particularly in the care of older adults, a cohort that sees higher rates of chronic illness, multimorbidity and cognitive conditions such as dementia. At the same time, workforce shortages, limited clinical placements and rising demand driven by a rapidly aging population are placing significant strain on the system.
Baycrest, a global leader in aging and brain health, is reimagining clinical education to prepare health care staff, family caregivers and care organizations to alleviate the strain on the system. By integrating artificial intelligence (AI), immersive digital learning and human-centred simulation, Baycrest is building practical skills, strengthening clinical judgment and developing clinical expertise for modern geriatric care. These initiatives reflect a deliberate effort to prepare providers and caregivers across the care continuum for a technology-enabled health care system while preserving the genuine and trusting relationships underlying high-quality care.
Expanding Scalable Dementia Education Through AI
Baycrest is advancing the use of artificial intelligence in personalized dementia education through Dementia Behaviour AI, an AI-powered expert tutor that helps family caregivers and health care staff build practical skills to support individuals exhibiting responsive behaviours.
Responsive behaviours, such as agitation, resistance to care or wandering, affect up to 90 per cent of people living with dementia. Often signals of unmet needs, these behaviours contribute to caregiver stress, staff burnout, safety incidents and increased health care costs. Evidence consistently supports person-centred, non-pharmacological interventions as effective approaches, yet opportunities to practise these skills in safe, structured environments remain limited.
Dementia Behaviour AI allows caregivers and staff to work through realistic case scenarios using an applied behavioural analysis-informed approach that guides learners to identify triggers, understand the function of behaviours and develop proactive, person-centred strategies. It provides individualized feedback in a self-paced online environment, allowing users to build confidence and decision-making skills through practice.
By making high-quality dementia education accessible at scale, Dementia Behaviour AI supports family caregivers, personal support workers, nurses and students, including those in rural and underserved communities. By strengthening frontline confidence and competence, this approach demonstrates how technology can expand access to training while supporting safer and more responsive care environments.
Immersive Learning Through LIPHA
In response to workforce pressures and limited clinical placements, the Ontario Centre for Learning, Research and Innovation (CLRI) at Baycrest has developed the Learning Inter-Professionally Healthcare Accelerator, or LIPHA, a game-based learning platform designed for nurses, personal support workers, students and new hires in long-term care.
LIPHA provides immersive, situation-based experiences that allow learners to practise clinical skills, make decisions in complex care situations and collaborate as interprofessional teams in a safe, virtual environment. By integrating simulation, case-based learning and narrative storytelling with instant feedback, the platform enables learners to build competence in team-based clinical care. Interactive features such as mini-games, feedback loops and progressively complex scenarios reinforce skill development while encouraging reflection and critical thinking.
Evaluations show that LIPHA enhances learner confidence, interest in the long-term care sector and readiness for practice. More than 6,000 learners across Ontario have used the platform, which is freely available to academic programs and long-term care homes through provincial support. By complementing traditional clinical education, LIPHA helps prepare the workforce for the realities of long-term care while expanding access to experiential learning across the province.
Preserving the Human Element Through Simulation Partnerships
As Baycrest advances a dynamic portfolio of digital innovations to advance geriatric education, our work also underscores the value of human connection in developing clinical expertise. The Simulation Activities in Gerontological Education (SAGE) plays a key role in integrating high-tech and high-tough learning opportunities and underscores how education grounded in real-world care experiences remains essential to high-quality geriatric practice. Embedded within Baycrest’s broader digital and simulation ecosystem, SAGE connects innovation to the lived experiences of older adults, families and care teams and anchors technological progress in real life and real people.
SAGE was established in 2015 and is one of only two volunteer-based, geriatric-focused simulated participant programs globally. The program trains older adults to portray patients, family members and caregivers in realistic clinical scenarios, enabling learners to practise communication, assessment and relational skills in authentic yet controlled care environments.
At Baycrest, simulated participants are active partners in the design, delivery and refinement of simulation experiences. Their lived experiences shape educational content, helping learners build empathy, clinical judgment and person-centred practices that enrich and inform our digital innovations.
By positioning older adults as collaborators in clinical education and embedding SAGE within the digital innovation portfolio, Baycrest reinforces a critical principle: that technology can expand possibilities, but its effectiveness depends on grounding innovation in communication, trust and the human relationships that remain at the heart of exceptional care.
Developing Skills for Modern Geriatric Care
“Our goal is to ensure that caregivers and health care providers have access to learning that meets them where they are and reflects the realities of care today,” says Dr. Allison Sekuler, President and Chief Scientist, Baycrest Academy for Research and Education. “With educational initiatives grounded in expertise in geriatric care and a commitment to improving the experiences of aging for communities across the province and beyond, we can strengthen care at every level and develop the next generation of clinicians, care providers and educators.”
As Ontario’s health system evolves, education models must evolve with it. From AI-driven tutoring and immersive digital platforms to our older adult simulated participant program, Baycrest is advancing integrated approaches that prepare health care providers to deliver high-quality, relationship-centred care for older adults everywhere.