Simulation Center Training Promotes Patient Safety and Improved Medical Team Performance
Where does the U.S. Navy send its undersea medical officers to practice treating trauma, cardiac and other medical cases?
To Hartford Hospital’s Center for Education, Simulation and Innovation (CESI), where the mission is to promote excellence in clinical care, advance patient safety and improve multidisciplinary team performance through high-fidelity medical simulation. Currently, Hartford Hospital’s CESI is one of only 20 such centers recognized nationally.
A 20,000-square-foot training facility, CESI is one of the few facilities in the United States to offer a fully comprehensive range of robotic and high-technology training opportunities. A wide range of medical crisis scenarios can be recreated using simulation mannequins in a safe, flexible, and realistic teaching environment. Working in this environment broadens the simulator’s capabilities to mimic multiple types of acute crises and patient care scenarios.
Navy physicians come to Hartford to train four times a year at CESI, which trained more than 11,000 medical professionals in FY 2015 including visitors from Brazil, Argentina and Israel. The Navy recently renewed its contract for another three years.
In addition to training medical professionals, CESI is offering free training to first responders (police, fire and rescue personnel) to improve survivability in mass casualty events. Each training session will be offered to a group of 10 first responders from one area town. Together, the team will learn and practice tasks, gaining new understanding of lifesaving skills, protocols, leadership roles and common language.
Thanks to a $143,800 grant from the Connecticut Health and Educational Facilities Authority, CESI staff will provide free training for 10 learners each month over a two-year period. The goal is to train 240 first responders who subsequently can help train their team members to better address victims’ medical needs and help save lives.