03
Sep 2014
The Simulation Technologies and Training (STAT) Center at Greenville Technical College welcomes students from all of the college?s 17 health programs, giving them a chance to practice and perfect skills on human patient simulators before they work with real patients on the job. Many of these students have never encountered the simulators before they enter the center, and they are often surprised by the lifelike appearance and reactions of these high-tech teaching tools. Last week, the center welcomed a visitor who is very familiar with human patient simulators. In fact, he invented the first simulator for transthoracic echocardiography to incorporate virtual reality technology while working for a company he co-founded, VIMEDIX Virtual Medical Imaging Training Systems. That company was acquired by CAE Healthcare in 2010, where Dr. Robert Amyot now serves as president. He and a team from CAE spent a few days at the STAT Center, watching simulators produced by CAE and other vendors in action. The goal was to observe product usage, gaining insight into needs and successes. The STAT Center at Greenville Technical College recently celebrated five years in operation. During that time, the center has hosted over 900 classes and more than 17,000 student visits. The facility includes eight lifelike environments including an outdoor scene, indoor scene, emergency room, labor and delivery area, neonatal resuscitation, standard patient room, operating room, and specialty room. Dr. Amyot and his team watched as the STAT team ran scenarios with students and performed debriefing to help the students understand what they had done right and how they could improve. The CAE team brought a new product, the Fidelis? Lucina birthing simulator, to demonstrate. This model can give birth and also be used for other non-birthing simulations, making it more versatile than previous models. ?Simulation efforts at Greenville Technical College have grown and evolved since the STAT Center opened five years ago, resulting in a better learning experience for students in all healthcare programs,? said Michael Fisher, director of the Greenville Technical College STAT Center. ?As research and development teams work to increase the range of virtual reality products and companies such as CAE listen to the needs and concerns of real users, these valuable tools can only improve the quality of education we offer.?