The Center for Medical Education and Innovation is a 20,000 square foot state-of-the-art medical education and training facility located on the fourth floor of the McConnell Heart Hospital at Riverside. It replicates a hospital environment, from the scrub sinks to the equipment to the collaboration among healthcare professionals.
The Center incorporates the most advanced, innovative medical simulation and education technologies available today and allows multidisciplinary training of medical professionals along the full continuum of care, from paramedics and emergency technicians to residents, nurses and attending physicians.
Three areas comprise this state-of-the-art facility, each with their distinct functionality: a Virtual Care Unit (VCU), a Laboratory Skills Center and a Conference Learning Suite.
Virtual Care Unit
The Virtual Care Unit (VCU) gives medical professionals the opportunity to learn clinical procedures using patient simulators that include four adult patient simulators, one pediatric version and one of the first infant patient simulators in the world. Each patient simulator can be programmed to react in very human ways, with more than 72,000 combinations of physiologic responses.
Participants interact with these "patients" in settings that include an intensive care unit, emergency room, operating room, trauma suite and patient room. They are trained for a variety of scenarios in a single location.
Simulators transmit the clinicians' actions to a central control room to be reviewed and analyzed for enhanced learning opportunities and improved patient safety.
In addition, the CME+I educates healthcare providers in disaster preparedness by training them in the treatment of mass casualty, natural disaster and chemical, biological and radiological casualties. The first of its kind in the world, the VCU features technology first used in the military and developed by METI, Medical Education Technologies, Inc.
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Laboratory Skills Center
The Laboratory Skills Center consists of a:
- microvascular lab for practicing suturing techniques, tendon reattachments and other procedures related to the minute circulatory system
- laparoscopy lab for practicing minimally invasive surgical techniques using the same instruments found in an operating room
- minimally invasive catheterization lab for practicing delicate, catheter-based procedures such as balloon angioplasties and stent placements
- two patient exam rooms where healthcare professionals can work with actors to practice communication and interpersonal skills
- clinical skills lab for practicing procedures such as IV insertions, airway management, pelvic exams and suturing without involving an actual patient
Clinical procedures training
The Laboratory Skills Center, with six lab settings, enables medical professionals to practice and sharpen skills in patient care without involving an actual patient but instead using artificial models of the human body.
Medical professionals receive instruction for a wide range of clinical procedures, from IV insertion, suturing, and airway management to microvascular and laparoscopic techniques.
Through educational interactions in the patient examination rooms, medical professionals experience interpersonal components of the provider-patient relationship by interacting with actors.
They are observed or recorded from outside the exam room for feedback and evaluation. They can then apply the lessons learned to their next "real-life" situations in caring for patients.
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Conference Learning Suite
The Conference Learning Suite is home to one main conference hall with seating for more than 150 people, two smaller conference rooms, and a Distance Learning Suite, all with multimedia, video conferencing and distance learning capabilities.
This area of the Center supports not only Riverside conferences, but also has the ability to transmit/receive teleconferences between other locations in CME+I and the OhioHealth system. The ability to transmit/receive teleconferences nationally and internationally is coming soon.
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To learn more, please contact us.