State’s first patient simulation
research, education center opens
The
first in a statewide network of patient simulation research and
education centers opened March 14 at Greenville Health System, linking
MUSC clinicians to the Upstate through the Center of Economic
Excellence in Clinical Effectiveness and Patient Safety. It has the
earmarks of becoming a national model for clinical training, quality
care and safer hospitals.
Dr. John Schaefer
demonstrates using a simulator during the Greenville Healthcare
Simulation Center opening March 14.As part of Health Sciences South Carolina (HSSC), the simulation center will become part of a statewide network of simulation centers, which will operate under the name of Healthcare Simulation South Carolina. It will be directed by John J. Schaefer III, M.D., who holds the Endowed Chair in Patient Simulation Education and Research. Schaefer, an internationally recognized expert in patient simulators, is charged with establishing the integrated network of simulation centers, which will ultimately include seven locations: Beaufort, Charleston, Clemson, Columbia (2), and Spartanburg.
The Greenville Healthcare Simulation Center is located on the campus of Greenville Memorial Hospital. Although the 6,500-square-foot is temporary, it houses $500,000 in sophisticated simulation technology, including six high-end, full-body adult and infant simulators. The simulators are used to provide clinical training to medical, nursing and allied health students as well as continuing education for practicing health care professionals.
The Greenville Healthcare Simulation Center eventually will be housed in the Research Education and Innovation (REI) Building on the Health Sciences and Innovation Campus at Greenville Memorial, which will nearly double in size to 12,000 square feet to accommodate expanded education and research programs.
HSSC Chair and MUSC President Ray Greenberg, M.D., Ph.D., said the timing of this unparalleled effort could not be better for those who wish to pursue careers in medicine, nursing and allied health, and those who want and need access to high quality, safe health care services.
“In virtually every sector of the health care workforce, there is a shortage. Health Science’s network of simulation centers, working with medical colleges, nursing colleges, and technical colleges, will elevate the quality of education and also the capacity of current programs. Having more doctors, nurses, and technicians educated in this state-of-the-art manner will benefit the entire state of South Carolina,” Greenberg said.
Michael Riordan, president and CEO of Greenville Hospital System, hosted the formal opening ceremony of the center, and credited the vision and efforts of many stakeholders who turned a kernel of an idea into a potential national model in less than 18 months.
“The Greenville Healthcare Simulation Center represents the truly tremendous things that can happen when great minds not only think alike, but act together,” said Riordan. “I must give tremendous credit to the South Carolina General Assembly, which in 2005, invested $5 million in Health Sciences to create a Center of Economic Excellence in Clinical Effectiveness and Patient Safety. I also credit my good friend and colleague, Dr. Tom Barton, president of Greenville Technical College, for his vision of bettering nursing and allied health education through the use of patient simulators. Dr. Barton’s seed blossomed within Health Sciences South Carolina and today we are looking at the first of what will soon become a statewide network of simulation centers that will revolutionize the clinical education of health care providers and significantly improve quality and patient safety in our hospitals.”
Affirming its commitment to using health sciences research to improve the health of all South Carolinians, HSSC announced the naming of the Endowed Chair in Clinical Effectiveness for Lewis Blackman, a 15-year-old boy who passed away in 2000 at MUSC after suffering complications from surgery that went untreated. MUSC College of Medicine Dean Jerry Reves, M.D., presented Blackman’s mother and tireless advocate for improved patient safety, Helen Haskell, with a plaque that will be displayed at each of the simulation centers. The plaque will serve to remind current and future health care providers of their primary mission—the health and safety of patients.
Friday, March 23, 2007
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