Medical Simulation Training Center | UAG School of Medicine

CENTER FOR SIMULATED PATIENT CARE

The Center for Simulated Patient Care provides students with the opportunity to immerse themselves in real-life inpatient spaces, operating rooms, and ambulatory settings through an experiential approach. This innovative teaching method utilizes simulation-based education, which has been proven to reinforce clinical knowledge, improve team communication, and enhance decision-making skills.

The center's full-body simulation mannequins provide real-time physiological responses and feedback, allowing students to interact with advanced technology and develop the necessary skills in a safe and controlled environment. The use of simulation-based education provides a powerful tool for hands-on training, preparing learners for real clinical settings and patient interactions by promoting critical thinking and teamwork.

FACILITY INCLUDES

ER/OR: Suites are equipped with a fully functional emergency room or operating room.
ICU: Typical hospital room with wall hook-ups for medical gases and suction, and a sink for proper hand sanitation.
L&D: Labor and Delivery room is fully furnished with an obstetrics bed, a fetal heart monitor, and exam lights.
Simulation Control Rooms: Each control room is separated from the scenario room by a one-way mirror.
Audio/Visual Recording System

PATIENT SIMULATORS

Women’s and men’s adult upper and lower torso
Venous & Arterial Access Trainers
Airway & CPR
Virtual dissection tables
High fidelity adult patient simulator (Male and Female)
High fidelity infant patient simulator (Children and Baby)

TYPES OF SIMULATORS

We have a wide range of simulators of different fidelities, from the most basic to high fidelity simulators, used depending on the grade of difficulty of the simulated educational technique, learning goals, and abilities to be practiced.

RESEARCH BENEFITS

In addition to the educational process, the Center allows for the research of new educational pedagogic tools and didactics to improve medical education and promote innovation. Furthermore, the utilization of the Center with various levels of simulators and scenarios can aid in the improvement and development of new diagnostic and therapeutic techniques, tools, and approaches for a diverse range of pathologies and diseases. This, in turn, assists specialists in advancing medicine and other healthcare-related sciences.

LEARNING BENEFITS

Simulation-based education improves the confidence of medical students and enhances their abilities, skills, and knowledge integration through various techniques. It provides the opportunity to create safe environments for clinical scenarios that enable our students to learn from their errors without causing harm to another human being.

HEALTH SCIENCE BENEFITS

Simulation-based education, with its various didactic techniques, enables the development of collaborative work skills, professionalism, and interprofessional communication while integrating scientific knowledge with medical propaedeutics, marking the initiation of medical practice. As teams collaborate during simulated scenarios and with different types of simulators, peers must address each other to enhance the targeted skills and abilities for each workshop. They communicate their successful and appropriate techniques, providing feedback on areas for improvement, all under the guidance of a professor. This practice facilitates a more effective development of students' learning processes, preparing them for clerkships and future practice. These educational techniques and technologies can also be integrated into the lifelong learning of every physician as part of continuing medical education.

SIMMAN

The SIMMAN is a cutting-edge, high-fidelity simulator that is capable of simulating a wide range of neurological and physiological symptoms. This sophisticated piece of equipment is designed to facilitate the development of critical communication skills among students in their interactions with patients and to provide comprehensive training.

These features enable learners to gain practical, hands-on experience in a controlled setting, and to receive detailed feedback on their performance, helping them to develop the necessary skills to become successful healthcare professionals.

SIMMAN's main functions include:

Helps the student to communicate respectfully with the patient
Functions and complications of the airway
Heart, respiratory and digestive sounds
Auscultatory silence
Pulses such as carotid, brachial, radial, femoral, pedial, popliteal, and posterior tibial
Taking blood pressure
Vascular access

Drug recognition system
CPR practice
Eye movements (opened, closed, blinking, pupillary response)
Convulsions
Hemorrhage
Urination
Secretions (eyes, ears, mouth, nose)
Diaphoresis

Cyanosis
Cateterism
Can talk (pre-recorded and personalized sound)
Intercommunication
Manual or automatic defibrillation
Vital signs monitoring
Debriefing by video

SIMMOM

SIMMOM is a sophisticated, high-fidelity obstetrics simulator that has been designed to replicate the complexity and variability of real-world birthing scenarios. With the capability to perform both manual and automatic births, SIMMOM is a versatile tool that can provide students with invaluable hands-on experience in a safe and controlled environment.

Moreover, SIMMOM can simulate a range of neurological and physiological symptoms that students may encounter in clinical practice, thereby enabling them to develop and refine their diagnostic and treatment skills. With its advanced features and capabilities, SIMMOM represents an essential training resource for medical students seeking to excel in the field of obstetrics.

SIMMOM's main functions include:

Enhances respectful patient communication skills
Covers all childbirth phases and allows the simulation of pathologies during and after childbirth
Preparation of high-risk deliveries and postpartum complications, including puerperal bleeding
Practice measuring blood pressure
Auscultatory silence

Vascular access
CPR practice
Convulsions
Manual or automatic defibrillation
Can talk (pre-recorded and personalized sound)
Intercommunication
Vital signs monitoring
Cateterism

Debriefing by video
Interchangeable pupils
Baby with realistic weight
Request of laboratories, X-Rays and videos
Identify airway functions and complications
Recognize heart, respiratory, digestive, and fetal sounds
Provides practice identifying carotid and brachial pulses

SAM

SAM is an advanced auscultation mannequin designed for medical students to hone their skills in detecting normal and pathological sounds. SAM features an extensive library of sounds, including 35 cardiac sounds, 11 cardiopulmonary combinations, 27 pulmonary sounds, 11 intestinal sounds, and 6 noises of interest.

In addition to the audio capabilities, SAM also provides visual feedback, displaying the waves of the EKG for a more comprehensive understanding of the patient's condition.

Furthermore, SAM features a carotid pulse, allowing students to practice their tactile skills and gain experience in identifying the subtle differences between various pulse qualities. With its sophisticated features and diverse library of sounds, SAM is an indispensable tool for medical students seeking to refine their auscultation skills.

ABDOMEN

The ABDOMEN serves as an excellent simulator for medical students to practice essential techniques such as palpation, percussion, and abdominal auscultation. Its customizable features enable students to simulate various abdominal pathologies and conditions, providing an immersive and realistic training experience.

AIRWAY

The AIRWAY simulator provides a comprehensive training experience for students to practice intubation techniques, including nasal and oral approaches, as well as ventilation and suction procedures. With the ability to recreate various complications, students can develop essential skills and confidence to handle unexpected scenarios in real-life situations.

LITTLE QCPR FAMILY

Our Little Family QCPR mannequins are the perfect training tools for mastering cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) techniques with monitored feedback. This family of mannequins includes adult, junior, and baby models to provide a comprehensive training experience for medical students.

With realistic anatomical features, students can practice CPR techniques on these mannequins and receive real-time feedback on the accuracy and effectiveness of their performance.

OCULUS

The OCULUS is designed to work in tandem with a virtual reality program featuring clinical or anatomical cases. This cutting-edge technology provides medical students with a highly immersive and interactive training experience.

The OCULUS device allows students to explore complex medical scenarios in a simulated environment that closely resembles real-life situations.

The center provides a comprehensive curriculum of scheduled courses as well as customized simulation education programs, complete with state-of-the-art equipment and scenarios. This includes the use of high-fidelity simulators and advanced audiovisual equipment, which enable playback and debriefing sessions.

This sophisticated technology allows learners to receive detailed feedback on their performance, providing an opportunity for reflection and refinement of their clinical skills. The center's customized simulation education programs are tailored to the specific needs of each individual student or group, ensuring that they receive the highest quality training and preparation for their future medical careers.