February 28, 2012
COLUMBUS, Ohio – One of the nation’s largest and most comprehensive academic clinical education centers will be unveiled THURSDAY (3/1) at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. The $13.1 million newly expanded patient simulation and training center is dedicated to training healthcare professionals of the future and houses some of the most advanced technology, equipment and simulators in the country.
“We are excited to utilize this truly amazing, state-of-the-art facility which puts Ohio State at the forefront of medical education. The renovated Clinical Skills Education and Assessment Center (CSEAC) will allow us to provide the highest quality clinical education necessary to advance the quality of healthcare delivery to our patients and to foster educational research as it applies to skills assessment,” says Dr. Steven G. Gabbe, chief executive officer of Ohio State’s Wexner Medical Center.
The CSEAC spans 26,100 square feet, including construction of an additional floor, an intensive care suite and 30 additional rooms, excluding offices, computer rooms and reception spaces. Adding to the existing 8,100 square feet and 14 rooms housed in The Ohio State University College of Medicine’s Ann Crowe Essig Patient Simulation Learning Lab, the Center also includes spaces for critical care bays and small group interactive labs for debriefing and assessment of simulations.
Within the original lab, which opened in 2004, medical students and residents train and prepare for various patient encounters with specially coached actors, known as “standardized patients.” The interactive medical scenarios help develop interpersonal, as well as physical examination skills, critical to enhancing communication and patient-provider relationships.
According to Lockwood, the CSEAC environment exudes a holistic transdisciplinary team approach that will enable all Ohio State’s healthcare professionals to focus on improving patient safety and outcomes, increasing procedural proficiency and enhancing precision. “The Center gives us the advantage of fully integrating interprofessional teams and leveraging individuals' expertise, allowing us to then provide optimal care to our patients,” Lockwood says.
Crew resource management training – the approach which transformed the airline industry into one of the safest businesses in the world – will be a crucial part of the Center’s focus. “We do not just train pilots to fly the health care “plane” – we train the entire crew,” adds Lockwood.
- Virtual reality immersive room with avatars
- Five virtual critical care bays
- Life-like full body mannequins to simulate a wide variety of medical scenarios
- Ultrasound simulation room with five ultrasound stations and a shared 70-inch plasma screen
- A 70-seat seminar room containing individual data access and equipped with audio-visual and wireless capabilities
- Surgery tech lab with American College of Surgeons standard task training modules
- Procedures lab for task training procedural practice sessions for all procedures
The CSEAC is centrally located on the Wexner Medical Center campus. Students, residents, faculty and staff can avoid off-site transportation because they are literally steps away from the training facility, the hospitals and other patient care sites. In addition to the strategic proximity, another advantage of the Center is its access to all levels of trainees for continuous medical education.
"We are so pleased to provide this comprehensive learning environment for our students, residents, faculty and staff. The Center supports the three missions of our academic medical center - teaching, patient care, and research – which together will help us improve people’s lives in our model of personalized health care,” Gabbe adds.
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