Practice makes perfect at the Critical Care and Trauma Simulation Center
There are cases that medical providers may encounter once or twice in their careers – or possibly not at all. How do they prepare to provide lifesaving care in situations they may never see until it’s a real-life scenario?
The Critical Care and Trauma Simulation Center at the University of Maryland Medical Center is one of the most technologically advanced training centers in the region. There, doctors, nurses and other medical professionals train on mannequins that breathe, whose eyes respond to light, and who even bleed when an IV is placed.
Local media recently saw first-hand the center’s capabilities, witnessing a provider providing CPR on a pregnant woman in cardiac arrest while others performed an emergency cesarean section. Amid it all, instructors watched and listened from another room. The mannequins, which can be adapted to various genders, races and ages, respond as a human would. All of these elements combine to ensure that the providers trained here are ready when a real emergency comes in.
The CCTS is able to host a wide range of practice medical emergencies. The trauma resuscitation unit (TRU) trains trauma teams to conduct initial assessments and resuscitations in an environment that mirrors the actual TRU; the operating room allows people to perform simulated surgeries; there’s even an intensive care unit that looks like the standard room in the Shock Trauma ICU.