Boston -- Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center's Carl J. Shapiro Simulation and Skills Center has been formally accredited as a Level 1 facility by the American College of Surgeons (ACS), the first in Boston and New England and one of only six inaugural certified centers in the United States to provide simulation-based skills training to health care students and professionals from all medical and surgical disciplines.
As an accredited education institute, the SASC will become part of the ACS' developing network of regional education facilities designed to "specifically address the teaching, learning and assessment of technical skills using state-of-the-art educational methods and cutting-edge technology." By 2008, all surgical residencies will be required to have training in a skills lab.
"The SASC is a prime example of how our leadership position in education improves the capabilities of our physicians to deliver high quality, compassionate, safe care for our patients, and enables BIDMC to create new knowledge regarding the best methods for training the doctors of tomorrow," says Richard Schwartzstein, MD, vice president of education.
Located on the ground floor of the Shapiro Clinical Center, and supported by a generous gift from Carl J. and Ruth Shapiro, the SASC is one of the most comprehensive facilities of its type in the country.
A focal point of the technologically advanced SASC is a mock operating room, equipped to re-create the environment of a real OR with the addition of sophisticated audiovisual equipment and polarized viewing windows. Nearby, a similar room replicates multiple clinical areas, such as an emergency room, intensive care unit or a medical/surgery floor.
Physicians, nurses, students and other members of the healthcare team practice on interactive mannequins that change blood pressure, pulse, and other physiological measures on cue, and diagnose and treat "virtual patients
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Contact: Jerry Berger
jberger@bidmc.harvard.edu
617-667-7308
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
2-Aug-2006