Medical simulation centre in Manipal varsity to open today

 Medical Education Minister Ramachandra Gowda will inaugurate the centre, which will give new dimension to healthcare education, said Varsity Vice Chancellor Rajasekharan P Warrier at a press meet here on Saturday.

Dr Warrier said by allowing the students to practice outside the hospital environment, MSC will provide a unique approach towards education while maintaining and improving patient safety. “Medical students have used patients, dead or alive, for their learning process from time immemorial. Patients, nowadays, are often discriminative and want only their ‘real doctors’ to examine or work on them and refuse exposure to ‘student doctors’. There are also ‘student’ nurses, allied health and a multitude of learners wanting to learn clinical and practical skills. MSCX will be of great help to them,” he explained.

MSC allows healthcare professionals to experience and manage critical medical events without exposing the ‘patient’ to any risks or inconvenience. Earlier ‘dummy’ or unsophisticated models had been used for pelvic exams, ear exam or even for cardiac resuscitation and life support training. There were also ‘trained patients’ who were volunteers who are also taught to evaluate student performance, he said. “Medical conditions can be reproduced with high fidelity ensuring that the participant will experience life like situations. It is not a substitute to patient-based clinical training, but is meant to compliment it. Advanced monitoring equipment and one way observation chambers facilitate effective debriefing and help offer constructive feedback to trainees,” Dr Warrier said.  

The target audience will include students and qualified professionals in the medical, dental, nursing and allied health professions. Programmes will later be extended to college students, police, fire fighting personnel and home guards.  When fully operational, the centre will be capable of providing multidisciplinary training opportunities to over 7,000 health care professionals annually.