Mission & Objectives
Mission
The mission of the Interprofessional Clinical Simulation Lab (ICSL) is to provide students extensive experience in discipline specific and collaborative, multidisciplinary, team-based clinical simulations using standardized patients (SPs) and high fidelity patient simulators (HFPS). SP simulations will have a special emphasis on the chronic health conditions common to rural Southwest Virginia.
Our HFPS manikins will be particularly effective for presenting medical emergency scenarios involving dangerous changes in vital signs (e.g., cardiac arrest, diabetic emergencies, seizures, respiratory distress, trauma). Individual simulated patient scenarios and collaborative, team-based healthcare delivery scenarios have been shown to significantly improve students’ patient care skills, clinical decision making abilities, and, most importantly enhance patient safety and improve patient outcomes. Students trained in the team-based healthcare model will be more effective team members in their clinical practice.
The specific objectives related to the ICSL include:
- Provide individual simulated patient scenarios and collaborative, team-based healthcare delivery scenarios to improve students’ patient care skills and clinical decision making abilities.
- Providing interprofessional clinical training for allied health and advanced practice students, and medical residents and nurses from local healthcare training facilities and healthcare organizations/providers.