Medical Simulation Center

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Several influences are changing the way that we teach, learn and practice medicine. These factors include new barriers to successful clinical teaching such as the restriction of hours per week allowed to train residents and less access to patients due to shorter hospital stays. New technologies for diagnosis and management require different skills. Medical errors are occurring at an unacceptable rate and there is a need for a more standardized medical curriculum. Analysis of how adults learn has resulted in a better understanding of how best to teach and test cognitive and psychomotor skills.

Perhaps the most important innovation to arise from adult learning studies and the analysis of patient errors has been Medical Simulation. Simulation may include any aspect of patient care from simple skills required for IV insertion to full scale simulations or scenarios involving the entire medical team caring for a life sized, life like mannequin. Simulations are recorded on video and replayed for assessment and learning.

Medical Simulations can mimic almost any diagnostic or therapeutic situation. Medical concepts, as well as, critical thinking can be taught and evaluated through simulation. In addition to medical education, simulation provides an environment for deliberate practice of skills, all accomplished in the safety of the Simulation Laboratory. Medical simulators range from simple partial skills trainers to complex virtual reality devices.

Simulations can be utilized by all departments of the Graduate School of Medicine, as well as, Allied Health Professionals such as Nursing, Pulmonary Therapist, Pharmacist, even Hospital Administrators. The obvious benefits of simulation ultimately provide a more completely prepared healthcare team.

Fulfilling Our Mission

Education and Training

Our progressively more complex healthcare system has resulted in the need for major alterations and additions to the classical medical education model. These system changes have affected learners, educators and recipients of healthcare. Complex technologies have been introduced into patient care that requires more specific and specialized training.

Medical Simulations, much like flight simulators, provide a partial solution to these issues. Clinical skills/techniques, as well as, patient care can be practiced and mastered on a regular basis without the need for live patients. The importance of medical simulation extends beyond education to the recruitment of resident physicians to our training programs. The best students are beginning to insist upon up the availability of advanced simulations in their training programs of choice. With a large percentage of the residents we train remaining in our area to practice, the Simulation Center will influence the quality of healthcare in our community for years to come.

As assessment metrics become more fully developed and validated, simulations can be used to assess clinical competence. The results of skills sessions early in training may influence the choice by students as to their specialty area of study i.e. Surgery/Medicine.

Medical simulation laboratories will become more essential in the support of community and area physicians for continuing medical education, the introduction and practice of new procedures, as well as, maintenance of competency evaluations. This type of education with in the “safety” of the simulated environment will become an asset for physicians, administrators, nurses and all allied healthcare providers.

Patient Safety and Outcomes

The best healthcare is provided not by individuals but by medical teams. Most medical errors occur due to faulty systems not individuals. Simulation provides the perfect environment to teach and practice team training, the essential ingredient for improved patient safety. Simulated medical emergencies can be presented in the Simulation Center to teams for training, assessment, and practice. Errors can be identified and corrected without consequence to patients. Rare and unusual cases may be presented through simulation to broaden the student’s learning experience. The constant goal for medical simulation remains improved patient safety through education, assessment and dedicated practice.

Research

In addition to added value in terms of patient care, medical education and training, medical simulation provides benefits for research. Learning psychologists are able to evaluate and integrate adult learning theories through simulation. Bioengineers use simulation as an adjunct for construction of more sophisticated simulators. Statisticians assist in assessment of simulations. Communication skills along with team interactions are being studied in greater depth. Complex simulations require clinicians to study the science of education in a more organized manner. Duke University has used medical simulation to evaluate the design of clinical trials before they are used on patients. They have found that through the use of simulation, design problems in clinical trials can be reduced or eliminated and that through practice, the trial can be altered so as to be more efficient, effective and safe.

Conclusion

Medical simulation provides a realistic and necessary environment in which to teach, practice, and master the skills and knowledge required of quality healthcare providers, adding valuable dimensions to medical education, patient care and research. Simulation training fosters critical thinking, active learning, dedicated practice and confidence building. It allows individuals to learn and practice in a safe environment without risks to the patient or learner.

Medical simulation provides:

• Training in all of medicine’s general competencies, patient care, medical knowledge, practice based learning, interpersonal and communication skills, professionalism and systems based practice
• Repetitive skills training
• Complex clinical training
• A risks free environment for students and patients
• Organized use of best learning and assessment techniques
• Team training (Crisis resource management)
• Enticement in recruiting the brightest medical students as residents

Simulation can be used for aptitude testing, early skills acquisition, career-long training, Board examination, credentialing, pre-procedural rehearsal, and procedural prototyping.

Societal pressures, including cost –containment and patient safety issues, will increasingly preclude the use of real patients, especially ill ones, in hands-on medical education and training. Employing medical simulation techniques will become a significant adjunct to the “apprenticeship model”. “See one, do one, teach one” will become “See one, practice many, do one”.

Funding

The Medical Simulation Center will be fully funded by philanthropic dollars.  Initial funding for Phase I of this project is estimated at $1.5 million and would be allocated in the following areas:

• “Mainframe” simulation equipment
• Identification and preparation of the physical location
• Satellite connectivity
• Computers and computer access
• Computer software

Ongoing costs associated with the Medical Simulation Center would include:

• Staffing (technical expert and administrative staff person)
• Simulation equipment maintenance and upgrades
• Addition of specialized simulation equipment
• Facility maintenance

Total Campaign Goal: $20 million

Raised to Date: $949,594

For more information about our Medical Simulation Center Campaign Initiative, please contact the Development Office at 865-305-6611 or development@utmck.edu.