Mayo Clinic Opens Medical Simulation Center

Friday, November 11, 2005

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Mayo Clinic College of Medicine recently opened the Mayo Clinic Multidisciplinary Simulation Center, a 10,000-square-foot facility on the first floor of the Stabile Building in downtown Rochester. Here, state-of-the-art technology simulates real-life patient care settings to complement traditional clinical training for medical professionals.

"The concept of simulation use in medicine is that experience is a powerful teacher," says William Dunn, M.D., Mayo Clinic physician and simulation center director. "Just as airline pilots practice scripted emergencies in a flight simulator before ever flying a real passenger jet, future medical professionals can now practice for high-risk procedures within fields such as emergency medicine and critical care without any possibility of patient risk. Technology can now produce incredibly real, simulated environments that provide powerful learning experiences for medical professionals."

Mayo's simulation center is designed to be among the world's largest medical simulation facilities in physical size and breadth of courses offered. The center includes realistic full-patient simulators (mannequins) that can be programmed to show complex symptoms and react just as a patient would to treatment decisions. For example, mannequins respond to administered (simulated) drugs and display physiological reactions on monitors in operating rooms, intensive care units and emergency rooms just as in real life. Other simulators train for specific procedures, including the newest methods of minimally invasive surgery and heart procedures. In addition, rooms that look identical to patient rooms can transform to a full-scale mass trauma setting in minutes. Simulation center faculty can tailor each training scenario to participants' education level and need.

Kay Thiemann, simulation center administrator, says usage since opening day has been higher than anticipated. "We've trained over 430 people since Oct. 1 in courses ranging from airway management to crisis communication skills and bedside leadership," she says. "Our course evaluations from trainees are telling us that simulation is a very powerful and effective way to learn ... and that they want more. We're hopeful about the potential impact the center will have on medical education at Mayo, as well as overall quality of patient care and safety."

Mayo Clinic's simulation planners intend for health care experts from all disciplines to test new ways to advance medical care quality and safety. "Mayo Clinic is well known for its team style of medicine and broad expertise across disciplines," says Dr. Dunn. "We'll use the same approach for our simulation center — where experts and students from different fields and disciplines can come together to innovate and train others broadly in the Mayo Model of Care."

The center's planners look forward to collaborating with other academic medical centers, government agencies and the medical products industry. "After we're up and running, and meeting demands within Mayo Clinic, we look forward to collaborating with others to advance medical education, emergency preparedness, and medical products and procedures," says Dr. Dunn. "We want this center to serve as a regional and national resource to advance quality and safety for all of medicine." Many faculty members are already nationally recognized for their work in this field.

Media representatives also are welcome to tour the facility. Please contact John Murphy or Susan Fargo Prosser at 507-284-5005 for more information.

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To obtain the latest news releases from Mayo Clinic, go to www.mayoclinic.org/news. MayoClinic.com (www.mayoclinic.com) is available as a resource for your health stories.

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To obtain the latest news releases from Mayo Clinic, go to www.mayoclinic.org/news. MayoClinic.com is available as a resource for your health stories.