Medical school to get new simulation center
Published Sept. 25, 2007
Although he breathes, speaks, and has a heartbeat and pulse, SimMan isn't a human being.
Rather, SimMan is a high-tech medical training mannequin. Thanks to a gift of $2.3 million from Russell and Mary Shelden, the School of Medicine will now be teaching its students with the assistance of SimMan and a new simulation center.
The new seven-story clinical support and education center, which is scheduled to be completed in early 2008, will house the Russell D. and Mary B. Shelden Clinical Simulation Center. It will also provide room for the school's growing number of physicians, scientists and medical students, as well as space for the University Hospital's and Clinic's medical records and staff, according to the medical school's Web site. The project will cost about $26 million.
The simulation center will be located on the sixth floor of the clinical support and education center.
The medical school is home to the world's first computerized laboratory system, according to its Web site. The site names the school as a leader in health informatics research since the 1960s. The simulation center is being built to keep the school in this position, simulation center steering committee chairwoman Karen Calhoun said.
"This is what we need to stay in the forefront of medical education," Calhoun said.
SimMan is so realistic that students have even cried when he dies during the simulation, Calhoun said. The mannequin can also speak phrases such as, "Oh, I can't breathe," and "My chest hurts, help!"
"He gets treated like a real patient," she said. "This is a good way of learning as well as building team work skills."
She said when students work in clinics, they will be dealing with other nurses, requiring them to work as a unit. She said SimMan helps prepare them for these situations.
Calhoun is also chairwoman of the medical school's Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery.
This year, the medical school recruited enough new physicians and scientists to be pressed for space, School of Medicine Dean William Crist stated in a news release. He also stated that the school recruited more than 100 physicians and scientists, raising the number of faculty members to more than 500.
Sinclair School of Nursing Dean Rose Porter said the simulation center, which is located in the medical science library, is used to fine-tune clinical procedures.
"This is where students learn all their basic skills as a nurse," Porter said.