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Services |
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Since opening its doors in 1999, the SimCenter has broadened its mission to advance medical simulation education, conduct research and train learners for clinical practice. Today, it applies the science of simulation to train a wide variety of learners. These include medical students from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) and the Graduate School of Nursing (GSN), interns, residents, and graduate students from the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Public Health Service and continuing medical education and training for medical staff from other federal and Department of Defense agencies. In addition, the center is actively involved in developing all types of new simulation curricula and training protocols across the continuum of medical education. As a pioneer in the field of simulation technology the SimCenter also partners with a wide range of government and military agencies, academic institutions, and professional associations to constantly redefine the cutting edge of medical education and medical readiness through simulated experiences. |
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Research |
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The SimCenter is on the vanguard of medical simulation research with initiatives that address important training requirements of military medical providers. Working with government, academia and industry, the SimCenter has focused its recent efforts on developing surgical simulators needed to support deployment missions, Included amongst these are research projects to create emergency airway simulators, intracranial hematoma simulators, physical fasciotomy simulators and screen based media to improve knowledge in caring for patients with moderate traumatic brain injuries. Each of these research initiatives address prioritized training requirements and include performance measures that demonstrate the value of simulator training programs. Recent research initiatives include creating more durable task trainers for use in the field and fleet, improving learner assessments and the measurement of teamwork skills, and developing computer technology for more accurate virtual environments. |
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Validation |
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The SimCenter works with partners in government, academia and industry to assess the effectiveness of new simulation technology and training programs. The center helps create metrics to evaluate the technology, the instructional programs and the performance of learners. This validation process identifies and remediates deficiencies in the training protocol and confirms that learners who complete the training will consistently retain the skills required by the curriculum. |
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Curriculum Development |
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The SimCenter works with its partners to define, develop and deploy medical simulation training scenarios that meet the curriculum’s based education instructional objectives of various educational programs. The goal is to provide learners with medical simulation training scenarios that target learning objectives derived from educational programs designed to identify learning objects with metrics that demonstrate proficiency at the completion of the learning experience. Recent projects include: • Development of “hybrid simulations” that combine standardized patients, human patient simulators, task trainers, and virtual reality. • Collaboration with the TriCare Management Agency’s Patient Safety Office to develop training scenarios that support TeamSTEPPS, and Fundamentals of Laborascopic training • Collaboration with the U.S. Army on the use of task trainers to teach fundamental surgical techniques in a variety of specialties; and devising training scenarios for the Wide Area Virtual Environment (WAVE), in which trainees are immersed in virtual combat situations or natural disasters. • Collaboration with the U.S. Air Force’s Distributive Human Patient Simulator program to provide skills training opportunities to medical personnel in their Readiness Skills Validation Program and in Patient Safety training scenarios. |
Medical Education
The SimCenter’s main focus is to provide educational services to its constituents in the University’s School of Medicine, Graduate School of Nursing, and the Graduate Medical Education in the National Capital Region. Additional simulation support is provided to training programs for allied health personnel, enlisted personnel, and individual medical units throughout DOD and other federal agencies.