Streamline Training & Documentation: STRATUS Center for Medical Simulation

Friday, January 29, 2010

STRATUS Center for Medical Simulation

The Department of Emergency Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston opened its STRATUS Center for Medical Simulation in February 2004.

The Center uses a wide variety of emergency and critical care scenarios to train all categories of medical personnel.¹ There is strong emphasis on teaching teamwork and clinical decision-making.

(Brigham and Women's Hospital)

The video below provides an overview of STRATUS Center training.

The Center has several laboratories, including:

Lab for procedure training — Using sophisticated manikins, trainees practice such procedures as intubations and chest tube insertions.

Micro-simulation computer laboratory — Trainees handle emergency and pre-hospital scenarios that emulate the actual physiologic changes that patients undergo during critical injury or illness and resuscitation.

Lab with a specially designed human patient simulator (see above photo and video) that provides interactive, team-based training in two resuscitation rooms that are virtually identical to the resuscitation bays in the Alpha Unit of Brigham and Women's Emergency Department.

Note that one of the many advantages of simulator-based training is the ability to provide ample practice is handling relatively rare medical cases.

You can read additional details (with a few typos) of how the simulation training works here and here.

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¹ STRATUS is an acronym for Simulation, Training, Research and Technology Utilization System. In addition to training for emergency personnel, the Center provides training for personnel in a range of medical and surgical areas, such as anesthesiology, surgery, obstetrics and gynecology.

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Labels: Simulation

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