New Med Training Center

Photo Jason D. Antos Mayor Michael Bloomberg assists emergency room physicians in reviving a human-like mannequin suffering a simulated cardiac arrest at Elmhurst Hospital Center. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation President Alan D. Aviles announced the construction of the nation’s first medical training technology center November 30 at Elmhurst Hospital Center.

The facility, which will be the largest and most advanced training technology center in the city, will offer hands-on simulation and training for healthcare provider individuals and teams. The $10 million, 10,000-square-foot institute, to be known as the Health and Hospitals Corporation Institute for Medical Simulation and Advanced Learning, will feature emergency and operating rooms and other patient care settings.

“New York City has the best health facilities in the country,” Bloomberg said.

Photo Jason D. Antos (L. to r.); HHC President Alan D. Aviles, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and HHC Institute for Medical Simulation and Advanced Learning Director Dr. Haru Okuda. “The life expectancy of an average New Yorker is fifteen months longer than it was two years ago. We are always looking for ways to advance health care in our city.”

One of the Center’s numerous technological features; a life sized high-fidelity mannequin complete with speech capability, vital statistics, sweat glands, blinking eyes, and even reflexes served as a demonstration. A group of emergency room physicians quickly attended to the “patient”, who was going into cardiac arrest. “How do you feel?” one staff member asked. The mannequin responded, “I can’t breathe.” The staff, with help from the mayor, was able to successfully resuscitate him.

The center will feature 11 of these mannequins at a cost of $70,000 apiece.

The main goal of the HHC Institute for Medical Simulation and Advanced Learning, which will be run by 14 medical and training professionals, will be to train more than 14,000 medical, nursing, and other HHC staff during its first three years.

“Clinical teams often confront emergency situations requiring quick and precise communication,” Aviles said. “This new medical simulation center will better train our staff to function as high-performing clinical team members in a wide variety of realistic and demanding scenarios.”

HHC Institute for Medical Simulation and Advanced Learning Director Dr. Haru Okuda spoke positively of the new training school. “I look forward to helping thousands of our clinical and nursing staff to practice their skills they already have, to learn new ones and to master the latest innovative techniques in health care,” Okuda said.

“The creation of this sophisticated training Institute places this leading public healthcare system in the forefront of patient safety and education methods,” Harvard Medical School Center for Medical Simulation Executive Director Jeffrey B. Cooper Ph.D. said. “The newly developing capability will provide a platform for teaching critical patient safety skills, especially in those areas where adverse events are most likely to occur. We at the Center for Medical Simulation, one of the world’s leading and most innovative healthcare

simulation organizations, are proud to be working with the HHC team to build this outstanding and exciting foundation for education and patient safety.”

“I have seen first hand the power of simulation based training methods to hone providers’ technical and teamwork skills without risk to patients and its benefits in interdisciplinary simulation to reproduce hospital environments and teams,” North Shore LIJ Patient Safety Institute Medical Director Thomas Kwiatkowski M.D. said. “We look forward to partnering with HHC to further harness this power and drive patient safety and quality improvement initiatives within the New York City metropolitan area through collaboration and research.”

“The HHC Institute for Medical Simulation and Advanced Learning promises to directly impact the quality and safety of health care. In the emergency department, successful patient care depends upon critical teamwork and medical decision making under extreme time pressure,” Society for Academic Emergency Medicine Simulation Academy Chair Rosemarie Fernandez M.D. said. “Simulation-based training will allow emergency healthcare teams to practice providing the highest level of care under the most difficult circumstances without risk to patients. HHC is clearly poised to be a leader in healthcare simulation on regional and national levels.”

The institute’s program and curriculum will borrow lessons from Harvard University, the Mayo Clinic and North Shore Long Island Jewish Health System. The facility is expected to be completed by the fall of 2010 and will be located on the campus of Jacobi Medical Center in The Bronx.

—Jason D. Antos