Patient Simulators
Life-Like Simulated Patient Experience
The Center for Medical Education & Innovation uses four adult patient simulators, one pediatric simulator and one of the first infant patient simulators in the world. Each patient simulator is computer controlled and can be programmed to react in very human ways, with more than 72,000 combinations of physiologic responses.
Medical devices can be attached to the simulators to train medical professionals in the proper implementation and use of certain medical equipment and drugs.
The life-like simulators breathe in oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide, as well as:
- Reproduce breath and heart sounds, pulse readings, drug reactions and thousands of other physiologic reactions.
- Speak, blink eyes and emit other reflexive and non-reflexive reactions.
- Exhibit vital parameters (ECG, heart rate, blood pressure, oxyhemoglobin saturation) shown on the patient monitor.
- Represent a wide range of patient configurations, male or female, young to elderly, healthy to diseased.
- Receive and react to medical procedures, such as chest tube placement and central line insertion, pericardiocentesis, needle compression and diagnostic peritoneal lavage.
Life-Like Configured Rooms
CME+I virtual hospital rooms are configured specifically to support and interface with the patient simulators. They include an operating room, an intensive care unit, a trauma suite and a patient room.
As the patient simulators are "driven" through various levels of care, they can be moved between rooms, as in a life-like situation, from trauma to operating room, from operating room to intensive care unit.
In addition, the Center's virtual hospital rooms have movable walls that allow reconfiguration of the teaching environment based on the needs of the situation being taught. For example, the walls between the rooms can rise into the ceiling, allowing the environment to be used as one large emergency department for triage of mass casualties and/or to practice disaster preparedness.
Patient simulation technicians, as well as teaching personnel, communicate with the learners and monitor and control the patient simulators from a master control room. During these teaching sessions, all activities are recorded and stored using microphones, cameras and AV feeds.
Debriefing rooms are also provided for preparation before and/or review after the simulation exercises.