VA to increase simulated medical training with new center of excellence

The Veterans Affairs Department plans to increase the use of medical simulation training for clinicians so they can learn how to conduct complex procedures in a setting that imitates real-life situations without putting patients at risk, Dr. Robert Petzel, VA's undersecretary for health said at a media briefing this morning.

The department plans to establish the Medical Simulation Center for Excellence at the new Orlando, Fla., VA Medical Center, which is slated to open in December, according to Petzel. The new center will serve as the nexus of a national simulated learning enhancement and advanced research network, or SimLEARN, he said.

VA recently hired Dr. Haru Okuda to run SimLEARN, Petzel said. Okuda previously served as the director and assistant vice president of the Institute for Medical Simulation and Advanced Learning for the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, where he oversaw the construction of a 10,000-square-foot, $10 million simulation center.

Petzel said the new simulation center will replicate facilities found in a real hospital, including operating theaters, emergency rooms and intensive care units. He said doctors will get to hone their skills on mannequins so realistic, when they practice gall bladder surgery, the mannequin will have a simulated gall bladder.

The center also will support simulated training for an entire surgical team, Petzel said, and will test simple team procedures, such as clearly marking a limb for an operation, reinforcing a basic practice to ensure the team operates on the correct limb.

VA plans to equip the new simulation center with sophisticated computer systems that include virtual reality servers and a control room to manage the simulated procedures and training, video recording, archiving and playback, according to a request to industrylast March.

In 1986, VA pioneered medical simulation at its medical center in Palo Alto, Calif., in partnership with Stanford University. Petzel said the Palo Alto simulation center will serve as a satellite office to the new Orlando center.