ROANOKE, Va. – A medical training and simluation lab in Roanoke is helping medical and nursing students and health care professionals practice real-world scenarios in a simulated environment.
Carilion Clinic's Center for Simulation, Research and Patient Safety features labs that simulate an emergency or operating room experience, classrooms and conference space and skills labs to learn procedures such as IV and central line insertion and airway management techniques.
"Our goal here is the first time that people are experiencing some type of emergency or something like that, isn’t with a real patient," said Sarah Henrickson Parker, senior director of the CSRPS. "Our goal here is to help people try things out, to learn how to do their work within a really safe environment, an environment of learning."
Carilion said the CSRPS will serve more than 2,000 students, faculty and health care professionals each year. It's housed in a renovated historic building in Roanoke.
Adam Tate, a fourth-year medical student at Virginia Teach Carilion School of Medicine, said the training the center provides is essential.
"Having the simulation lab is great because you still feel those same feelings because you don’t want to mess up, but you’re able to do it in a controlled environment with a simulated patient," Tate said.
The center is also equipped with cameras and technology to allow students, faculty and staff to review how each simulation went.