"Make your mistakes here," says Aileen Zanoni to a group of anxious medical students as they prepare to enter an examination room where a "patient" awaits them.
Aileen Zanoni, Coordinator of the Standardized Patient Program at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University repeats this mantra frequently in the Simulation Center, located on the second floor of the medical education building in Camden.
Making mistakes is a fundamental aspect of learning any new trade or set of skills. Everyone falls down a couple of times before they learn to ride a bike, and practicing medicine is no different. And, just like learning to bike, there are numerous mistakes that can be made before success is achieved; taking a turn too quickly, not pedaling fast enough, even just hitting an unfortunate patch of uneven sidewalk.
Similarly, when medicine is concerned, not only do students need to learn the basic sciences behind their trade, but there are also specific sets of interpersonal skills that all students need to master. Fortunately, the CMSRU SIM center is a safe environment for students to practice and improve in both of these areas.
There are two different types of simulation rooms in the center. The first is a simulated hospital operating room, complete with a life-size, high-tech mannequin. Discard everything you think you know about the stiff, plastic figures spattered across department stores nationwide-- these high-tech mannequins can be programmed to simulate from the simplest signs of human vitality, like lung-sounds and pulse, to even the most rare of medical malfunctions, like an allergic reaction to anesthesia.
Here, students will be placed in high-pressure situations, during which the "patient's" life may or may not be in danger. Greg Staman, Director of Simulation Operations, plays a large role behind-the-scenes, and can manipulate the mannequin from behind a one-way mirror in the simulation room. "Even though [the students] know it's all a simulation, they really get drawn into the experience...It feels real," says Greg.
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