Kent’s Graduate Medical Education Center will house the SimMan Patient Simulator
On Thursday, December 6, Kent Hospital staff and supporters gathered to celebrate the dedication of the hospital’s first-ever simulation lab (Sim Lab), located in the Graduate Medical Education (GME) Center. The new space is designed to house SimMan® 3G, a lifelike adult patient simulator which will provide real-life training to Kent Hospital’s residents and students. The lab, which includes a control room and procedural simulation equipment and ultrasound, was made possible by the generosity of the Luigi Damiano Foundation, represented at the event by Frank Lafazia, DO.
SimMan can imitate an array of medical conditions, from breathing problems and drug reactions to heart attack and stroke, and is able to recognize administered medications. All of these features serve to make training more efficient and realistic for medical students, residents, physicians, nurses, and other clinical personnel. Residents gave attendees a demonstration of SimMan, which breathes, cries, has a pulse, and even bleeds.
“This simulation lab space is critical to our continuing goal of quality improvement,” said Kent president and COO Robert Haffey. “We’re extremely grateful to the Lafazia family and the Foundation for their generous gift,” said Alisa Merolli, MD, the GME Center’s Designated Institutional Officer. “This lab allows our medical students to practice crucial procedures long before they are seeing patients.”
Kent Hospital, a Care New England Hospital, is a 359-bed, acute care hospital. It is Rhode Island’s second largest hospital, serving approximately 300,000 residents of central Rhode Island.
A teaching affiliate of The University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine, Kent offers programs in Emergency Medicine, Family Medicine, Internal Medicine and an Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine Fellowship. Kent’s redesigned Emergency Department (ED) sees approximately 70,000 patients a year and ranks Kent’s ED volume among the top 10-percent nationally. It was the first hospital in the state to eliminate the practice of ambulance diversion.