Sept. 6, 2002
Creating a New Tradition in Research and Education
Sixth Floor of the New Hospital Provides New Opportunities
in Medical Education
By Richard
Sheehe
The sixth floor of the new GW Hospital is an education and research
center boasting state-of-the-art technology. On this floor, the GW Medical
Center builds on its rich heritage by bringing its curriculum and its
students into a new century. The Clinical Skills Center features cutting-edge
technology in a setting that will be among the most innovative in the
nation. In this setting, students will gain comprehensive clinical exposure,
feedback, and evaluation to enable them to hone the skills they need
to become technically adept and humane caregivers for their patients.
One of the most exciting features of this area will be the Surgical
Simulation and Demonstration Area. Using virtual reality and two full-scale
“mock” operating rooms, this area provides highly realistic
scenarios for surgical training. Each room can be configured to match
the conditions of an OR, ER, or intensive care unit. In addition, a
highly sophisticated computer-controlled mannequin is used for practice
surgeries. This human patient simulator can be programmed with patient
characteristics such as age, anatomy, and specific physiological conditions.
The simulator mimics pulse and other vital signs, and can be programmed
to respond to various drugs and interventions. In the adjacent control
room, instructors, through headsets and a one-way mirror, can communicate
with and observe their students. The instructor can also change patient
variables on the computer in order to enhance the realism in the simulation.
Dr. Benjamin Blatt, associate professor of medicine, says, “Simulation
methodology is the most important advance in the education of doctors
in the last 50 years. The George Washington University Clinical Skills
Center, using cutting-edge technology, is implementing a setting for
its use that will be among the very best in the United States. The program
will result in major educational improvements in the way teaching and
evaluation are done for our doctors in training.”
In keeping with the mission of the sixth floor, there are also standardized
patient examining areas. This entire suite of patient examining areas
is designed for teaching and evaluating students in the basic clinical
skills of patient history taking, physical examinations, communication,
and interpersonal skills. Students have live encounters with actors
trained as standardized patients and are evaluated via one-way mirrors
and video equipment in each examining area. Building on this important
advance of simulation methodology, this program will result in major
educational improvements in the way teaching and evaluations are done
for healthcare professionals in training.
Blatt explains why this simulation program will benefit GW students.
“In the traditional curriculum, medical students do not receive
uniform exposure to common problems with which every clinician should
be familiar. Whether they see a particular illness is determined by
chance. For example, during their time in the emergency room, students
may or may not encounter a patient in the process of having a heart
attack. However, through simulation we can guarantee that every student
will see such a patient. Within a short period of time, standardized
patients can be easily trained to provide every student in the class
with experience with such patients.”
Blatt also points out that, in the traditional curriculum, students
complain that the faculty rarely watch them interact with a patient.
Standardized patients are trained to both interact with students as
patients would and then give students feedback based on a faculty-created
checklist. Blatt says in the state-of-the-art clinical skills centers,
faculty can watch their students perform in real time on video monitors,
and they can give their students the ample feedback they need by reviewing
with them a video recording of the performance.
Also on the sixth floor is a student computer resource center that houses
15 workstations, providing students with the space and technology to
write charts, read, and research material for their patients. This center
will be open 24/7 with a maximum capacity of 20 students.
The resident lounge/library is a gathering place for residents on overnight
call and a general reading area. It is equipped with two computer stations,
bookshelves, work tables, a television, and telephone lines. In addition,
there is space provided for separate men’s and women’s locker
rooms for residents and students.
The Office of Education for the MD program provides 1,200 square feet
of office space and cubicles for the personnel overseeing various educational
functions for the School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS). In
addition, there are two executive/administrative conference rooms, two
classrooms accommodating 35 students each, and space allocated for additional
SMHS programs.
According to Dr. John F. Williams, vice president for health affairs
and SMHS dean, “Our education and research goals at the GW Medical
Center will be enhanced by this floor in the new hospital. It gives
us an opportunity to take our medical education and research to a new
level in a state-of-the-art facility that reflects the strong partnership
between GW and Universal Health Services.”
In addition, the sixth floor is home to a 20-bed psychiatric unit, the
Center for Public Health Emergencies, and the physical therapy program.
This article originally appeared in the Summer edition of GW Medicine
& Health.
Send feedback to: bygeorge@gwu.edu
