Center for Patient Simulation (Department of Anesthesiology)

The Department of Anesthesiology Center for Patient Simulation at the University of Utah Health Sciences Center has been in operation since 1997.


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The highly realistic adult and pediatric human simulators and simulated clinical environment are used to provide a immersive learning experience for health care providers. Our facility provides a setting in which health care workers can improve their skills by experiencing reality-based patient-care problems in a range of simulated environments. We provide digital video recording that allows for review, assessing competency and critiquing of personal and group performances. 

Our simulation program has three components: (1) teaching for residents and medical students, (2) recertification for ACLS and conscious sedation for clinicians hospital wide, and (3) research.


Course Offerings

We offer a CME credit course to anesthesia care providers: Simulation Experience in Perioperative Myocardial Ischemia. In addition, The center provides a multi-disciplinary approach to training and competency improvement with an Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) recertification course. Recertification in the Center for Patient Simulation allows for all members of a code team to gather, practice, and review efforts in a mock code situation. In addition, a moderate sedation course is offered once a month. These courses are open to all clinicians who are employed at the University of Utah Health Sciences Center.

If you wish to rent the patient simulator for your own educational training or for research, please check the calendar for availability and contact Diane Tyler for current rental rates. Instructors are available or you may provide your own instructor. Rates quoted will include staffing to operate the simulator.


Resident and Medical Student Training

Anesthesia Resident Training. Simulation is a routine component of our weekly Wednesday morning anesthesiology lecture series. Groups of 5 to 6 residents attend the Simulations Center and participate in simulations directed at management of adverse cardiopulmonary events and rare or potentially life threatening disease states. Thirty sessions are held throughout the year for anesthesia residents. Our residents are involved in simulations that are based on their level of competency. 

CA1 courses are:

  • Introductions: a four day workshop introduction to anesthesia and complications.
  • An introduction to adverse airway and respiratory events
  • Orientation to variable priority training
  • The many faces of hypoxia: What to DO and how to make a quick differential diagnosis
  • Approaches to the difficult airway (fiberoptic bronchoscopy, transtracheal jet ventilation, and the fast track LMA)
  • When kids get blue real fast: the pediatric difficult airway

CA2 Courses are:

  • Clinical competency evaluation in management of adverse airway and respiratory events
  • Introduction to adverse cardiac events
  • Can you make a drip of choice in less than a minute? Throw in a dash of TEE for good measure.
  • Intraoperative myocardial ischemia.
  • How to survive obstetric hemorrhage.

CA3 Courses are:

  • Clinical competency evaluation in management of adverse cardiac events.
  • Trauma One: The six quick killers.
  • Difficult Airway II: The endobronchial blocker, the univent tube, and retrograde guide-wire intubation.
  • Mom has a bad airway, baby is sick, now what? A look at an obstetric patient with a difficult airway.
  • Pediatric zebras.
  • Total intravenous anesthesia: Real time use of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics to visualize drug synergy, onset, and duration of effect

Medical Student Clerkship Program. We provide training skills to medical students who choose an anesthesia rotation. The clerkship programs allows the students to increase skill on a variety of subjects. Both high fidelity and and part-task training simulators are used. Courses include:

  • Airway basics (METI simulator)
  • Moderate sedation and analgesia (METI simulator)
  • Indications, contraindications, and placement techniques for:
    • internal jugular and subclavian lines (central line simulator)
    • spinal anesthetics (spinal simulator)
    • radial arterial lines (arterial line simulator)
  • Adjuncts to airway management (airway simulator)

In addition, the Simulator Center supports the Medical Student Anesthesia Interest Group for the University of Utah School of Medicine. A intravenous line simulator and intubation airway management simulator are the center of a session for first and second year medical students.


Research

Scientific research in the Simulation Center is also a key activity. Over the last several years, research activities have focused on education, patient monitoring, and medical device development. Extramural support from the NIH, NASA, US Army, the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation, and the Department of Anesthesiology have supported many of these projects. Researchers from our department have teamed up with education specialists from the Department of Psychology to develop many of the study protocols.

Some of the project topics include (1) a computer based mentor for respiratory support during Basic Life Saving for astronauts, (2) a study of new patient monitoring systems for the battlefield, (3) a study of data presentation to enhance the titration of medication and interpretation of cardiovascular and pulmonary states, (4) exploration of novel approaches for first year anesthesia resident education regarding management of adverse airway and respiratory events, and (5) development of a realtime drug display that allows clinicians to visualize drug effect over time.


Location and Contact Information

Department of Anesthesiology
University of Utah School of Medicine, room 3A465 (main office: room 3C444)
phone: 801-581-6393, 801-213-3210         fax: 801-581-4367         e-mail: Diane.Tyler@hsc.utah.edu