WakeMed Health & Hospitals Receives Grant for Regional Medical Simulation Lab
RALEIGH, N.C. - WakeMed Health & Hospitals has received a $400,613 grant from The Duke Endowment to create and support a Medical Simulation Lab to be used for the education and training of health professionals throughout the region. The Duke Endowment plans to contribute another $115,409 in 2008.
The WakeMed Simulation Center (SIM Center) will feature three adult and one baby human patient simulators that breathe, have pulses, bleed if cut, respond appropriately to medications and will simulate death if not cared for correctly. The lab, once it is constructed, will have a mock operating room, emergency room, intensive care unit, labor and delivery room and general patient care room all designed to make experiences as realistic as possible.
Training physicians, nurses and emergency services personnel is one of the greatest responsibilities and challenges that any health care institution faces,� said Dr. Bill Atkinson, WakeMed president and CEO. The SIM Center will provide educational opportunities where health care providers can practice medical skills in a controlled, yet, realistic environment without consequences. It will be a true asset to the health care providers and patients throughout the region.�
The SIM Center will help improve the delivery of safe, quality care throughout central and eastern North Carolina. Health care providers will have the opportunity to practice medical skills such as intubation, pericardiocentesis and placement of chest tubes and IVs without endangering a real patient�s health. The simulators will also be utilized to maintain certifications in Basic Life Support, Advanced Trauma Life Support, Advanced Basic Life Support and Pediatric Advanced Life Support.
Many organizations, health professionals and students will benefit from the WakeMed Simulation Center, including:
* Wake Health Education Center (AHEC), which provides education for health professionals in nine counties (Durham, Franklin, Granville, Johnston, Lee, Vance, Wake and Warren).
* Capital Regional Advisory Committee, an emergency and trauma services coordinating group led by WakeMed
* Southern Atlantic Healthcare Alliance (SAHA), an 18 hospital collaborative serving central and eastern North Carolina with the goal of improving hospital quality and patient safety
* Wake Technical Community College Health Sciences Department, the largest health professions program in the North Carolina Community College system
The patient simulators provide realistic, real-time scenarios, complete with interruptions, unfamiliar medications, equipment malfunctions, and other factors that mimic real life possibilities and may lead to medically disastrous errors. Responses can be videotaped and performances critiqued. This allows trainees to learn from their errors and gain experience performing procedures that present themselves infrequently without endangering patients.
The SIM Center will also enable medical professionals to learn how to handle rare diseases or conditions such as those caused by chemical or biological weapons like anthrax or botulism. This type of training will be critical in the event of a local, regional or national emergency.
