September 12, 2006 Source: :
http://www.mcgill.ca/newsroom/news/?ItemID=21687 McGill unveils Medical Simulation Centre "Use your five senses. . . . Learn to see, learn to hear, learn to feel, learn to smell, and know that by practice alone you can become expert." Sir William Osler McGill University is pleased to unveil Canada's first fully integrated Medical Simulation Centre, a state-of-the-art facility that will greatly enhance medical research and the training of medical students and health care professionals, reduce medical errors and improve patient safety. "McGill is once more leading the field in advancing knowledge through hands-on teaching," said Principal and Vice-Chancellor Heather Munroe-Blum. "Our mission is to ensure the highest standards of excellence in research, teaching and patient care. Not only will these modern facilities bring a new vision in training, they will also enhance the well-being of the community." Based on the same general principles as simulation centres in aviation training, the McGill Medical Simulation Centre is a multidisciplinary, inter-professional centre that will allow students, doctors, nurses and therapists to work and learn together in an environment that closely duplicates the urgency, complications and uncertainty of real-life medicine without the life-and-death consequences. "This is one way in which the McGill Faculty of Medicine is transforming the way that health professionals learn while setting a new standard in medical training," said Dr. Richard I. Levin, Vice-Principal Health Affairs and Dean of Medicine. "We are now able to train them outside of the clinical area in a single location, in a safe environment." In the new facility, which is located in the La Cité complex on Ave. du Parc, clinical encounters can be simulated using patient mannequins and actors to improve doctor-patient communication skills and replicate emergency scenarios such as asthma attacks and heart attacks. Plasticized surgical models will facilitate the teaching of basic surgical skills in a realistic but risk-free environment. The official opening will be held Thursday, Sept. 14, at 10:30 am, at Complexe La Cité, 3575 Ave. du Parc, Room 5670. The 18,500-square-foot training facility is divided into four areas: a 60-seat conference area for large groups; ten clinical examination rooms used for clinical encounters with standardized patients, task trainers or mannequins; a high-fidelity simulator area for complex clinical scenarios and disaster training; and a large surgical area for technical training of technical skills.
Contacts Céline Poissant
Communications Officer
McGill University Relations Office
514-398-6751
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