The ICOM Clinical Simulation Center is an interactive clinical skills education, testing and evaluation facility. The center includes twelve patient exam rooms, six clinical simulation rooms and three control rooms. All eighteen patient rooms are equipped with ceiling cameras and microphones. Additionally, the six simulation rooms have state-of-the-art patient monitors which show real-time vital signs. Any events in these rooms will be recorded for interactive evaluation purposes.
The Simulation Center provides students the opportunity to practice core clinical skills, develop team communication and demonstrate that they have achieved clinical competence prior to starting clinical rotations.
Standardized Patients
Standardized patients are individuals who are trained to portray patients in a realistic manner with assigned symptoms. These timed encounters provide opportunities for students to practice their skills and receive immediate feedback.
Standardized patients will assess the students’ clinical and history-taking skills and communication techniques, using electronic scoring rubrics. Exam rooms are outfitted with two digital cameras to record standardized patient encounters. These recordings, stored in the web-based Panopto AV system, can be viewed by faculty and students to appraise students’ progress.
Human Patient Simulators
ICOM’s Simulation Center uses low-fidelity simulators such as CPR manikins, partial mannikin task trainers and high-fidelity simulators, which are sophisticated, computer-driven, interactive models with pulses, that are able to breathe, talk and seize. Their pupils can constrict and dilate.
These patient simulators, Apollo and Lucina from CAE, provide learning opportunities for students as they work within a team to engage in constructed clinical scenarios that are often of a more critical or emergent nature. As students assess, diagnose and treat their “patients,” they will employ the TeamStepps program, which optimizes patient outcomes by improving communication and teamwork.
Task Trainers
Task trainers are models of specific human body parts that are used to help students practice real-life procedures and identify the complications which arise with each body system. Some of the tasks practiced on these plastic models include: airway intubation; catheter insertion; IV placement; lumbar puncture; prostate examination; and obstetric maneuvers. These task training sessions allow students to practice until they are proficient.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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Why is the ICOM Simulation Center important?
The bedrock of medical school education includes comprehensive clinical exposure, feedback and evaluation. The SIM Center events are integral to the development of a student’s core competencies including diagnostic skills, communication strategies and competent leadership. The faculty-run patient scenarios allow students to implement teamwork as they hone their patient care skills. In addition, the SIM Center is a resource that can be utilized by the health care providers in the Treasure Valley for initial education, recertification or welcoming guest lecturers.
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How does the ICOM Simulation Center benefit the medical students?
ICOM students are scheduled in the Simulation Center during the first two years of matriculation. This hands-on training provides the opportunity for them to put their didactic knowledge to practical use and prepares them for their clinical rotations. Most importantly, utilizing high fidelity manikins and standardized patients, students are able to practice repeatedly until they are proficient.
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What kind of skills do ICOM students practice on the mannikins?
The SIM Center high fidelity manikins are vital in training students about patient assessment, clinical procedures and patient safety. The mannikins are life-like and can breathe, speak, bleed and seize. Assessment events include medical psychiatric and trauma scenarios. The skill sessions include IV placement, airway intubation and catheterization.
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What is the role of the standardized patient?
The SIM Center employs standardized patients who portray the personal history, physical symptoms, emotional characteristics and everyday concerns of actual patients. Each student is given the opportunity to interview, do a physical assessment and treat a myriad of patients in one of our state-of-the-art exam rooms.
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What skills do ICOM students perform during the physical exam?
The students practice auscultating heart and lung sounds; examine ears, eyes and the throat; palpate the abdomen; and assess the patient by asking a series of questions regarding their daily routines. These questions include eating habits, family history and mental status.