Vanderbilt Emergency Medicine

During the past three years, simulation has become an exciting and increasingly integral part of educating our Emergency Medicine residents throughout their residency (as well as medical students in their 4th year clerkship). Simulation allows the learner to have full control over the care of the sickest and most complicated patients in a realistic and safe setting. After each simulated case the learners are debriefed and specific feedback offered regarding patient management and team work. We have 4 faculty specifically dedicated to simulation.

Vanderbilt’s simulation center has progressed from a small room with a single manikin to a multi-storied simulation facility in Medical Research Building IV with multiple manikins and standardized patients. The facility has 6 potential bays that can mimic a modern Emergency Department almost exactly. It has multiple camera monitoring and recording capability for immediate feedback and/or research. A computer system is presently also being developed that can function as an electronic whiteboard. Please see the following link to tour the Center for Experiential Learning and Assessment (CELA)

The following are highlights of our simulation curriculum:

• Fourth year medical students:
  We offer three, half-day simulation sessions for the fourth year medical students during their clerkship. Two sessions focus on adult cases and one on pediatric. During each session we divide the students into groups of 3 or 4 individuals and each group manages 2-3 cases.


• Emergency Medicine interns: 
  For the past three years we have held an introductory course for the interns in July. The interns manage 10-12 challenging resuscitation cases dealing with chest pain, dyspnea, various forms of shock and altered mental status. Our goal is to expose the interns to the treatment of ill patients very early on in their residency. Research has demonstrated that simulation can accelerate resident competency.


• 2nd and 3rd year Emergency Medicine residents:
  Once a month our Tuesday conference includes two hours in the simulation lab. Residents are involved in caring for simulated patients and practicing procedures using partial task trainers. These sessions are thematic, involve numerous faculty and include mini-lectures surrounding the topic of the day.


• Assessment:
  his year (2008) we have begun to use simulation to assess both the fourth year medical students and our residents. The use of simulation for the purpose of assessment is still in its infancy. We believe, however, that direct observation in simulated patient care, can give us valuable multifaceted information regarding individual performance and can improve our didactics to meet the needs of our learners.