NYMC > The Clinical Skills and Simulation Center > Advanced Technology

Advanced Technology

3The Clinical Skills and Simulation Center provides a wide array of simulation technologies necessary for students as well as professionals to gain realistic and instructive medical experiences. Twenty exam rooms and two large simulation rooms are equipped with ceiling and wall-mounted pan-tilt-zoom cameras, multi-directional microphones, two-way speakers, telephones and a computer which allow for data capture that yields immediate, detailed and useful feedback for students. The physical exam rooms are also equipped with wall-mounted instruments including blood pressure cuffs, otoscopes, ophthalmoscopes and an exam table, to replicate an exam room and orient students to a clinical-care environment. Outside each exam room is a writing station where learners can complete post-encounter exercises such as preparing patient notes, gaining valuable experience in the computer interface for electronic medical records (EMRs).

The Center utilizes patented LearningSpace technologies of Medical Education Technology, Inc. (METI) which is composed of an infrastructure of more than forty internet protocol video cameras connected to a video capture server, a sophisticated database server for recording test data, and a dedicated server for the delivery of exam data and scoring results. LearningSpace also provides seamless integration of data from the high-fidelity patient mannequins, thus easily creating hybrid testing environments. Feedback to the students and faculty is provided through individual and secure log-ins thus allowing for remote access to post encounter videos and observation notes.

Within the state-of-the-art simulation rooms are three Laerdal SimMan 3G high-fidelity patient simulators that are wireless, self-contained mannequins controlled remotely by faculty. This gives learners a chance to manage all facets of patient care scenarios, pharmacological interventions and responses, and airway management. A Laerdal SimJunior teaches a broad range of pediatric skills in multiple patient care settings, both within and outside the hospital. Simulation training with both adult and pediatric mannequins includes various basic and advanced life support course modules. In addition, simulation rooms and nearby classrooms can be arranged to mimic different field and hospital environments.

For the purposes of learning particular tasks and skills, it is beneficial to use part-task physical trainers in order to provide just the key elements of the procedure or skill being learned. While they cannot fully replicate performing the task on real patients, they do allow learners to acquire the basic skills needed to then be taught the finer points of doing the procedures under supervision on actual human beings. The task trainers used at the Clinical Skills and Simulation Center can simulate various skills such child birth, ophthalmoscopy, defibrillation, central line placement, airway management, GTA/MUTA examinations, cancer screenings, suturing, and IV Placement.