Simulation Lab 'cornerstone' of hospital's evolution

Health Sciences North officially opened its new state-of-the-art Simulation Laboratory Oct. 9.

The Simulation Lab uses the latest in simulation technology and equipment to provide skills training to medical learners and health-care professionals of all disciplines, according to a press release from the hospital.

“This is a major advancement in patient care and safety,” said Health Sciences North CEO Dr. Denis Roy in a pres release.

“In our Simulation Lab, both our staff and medical learners will have the opportunity to perfect a wide array of skills, so those skills become second nature in real life scenarios. It is our patients who will benefit the most from the training that takes place in the Simulation Lab.”

Some of the equipment featured in HSN’s Simulation Lab includes adult, pediatric and newborn mannequins used for the perfecting of advanced life-savings skills.

The lab is also equipped with simulators that allow learners to practise such procedures as delivering babies, suturing, lumbar punctures, insertion of central lines, surgical techniques and airway management involving ventilation and intubation.

“This Simulation Lab is a cornerstone of our evolution as an academic health sciences centre,” said Dr. Chris Bourdon, HSN’s chief of staff and vice-president of academic and medical affairs.

“Having a facility of this calibre available to our staff and medical learners will not only boost the skill level of our HSN team, but will also help us attract and retain medical learners and professionals who want to be in an environment that provides these opportunities for learning.”

The Simulation Lab has already been used by a number of medical learners for different training sessions, including an Anaesthesia Boot Camp held in August. The Boot Camp was an intense week-long training program for anaesthesiologists from across Canada.

So far, more than 140 medical learners have logged upwards of 1,800 hours of training in the Simulation Centre.

“Medical learners and staff who have had a teaching session in the Simulation Lab are telling us it ranks among the best educational experiences of their careers and they want to come back for more training,” said Dr. Rob Anderson, anaesthesiologist, intensivist and medical director of the Simulation Lab.

“With this Simulation Lab, we are equipping our team to work together so they can handle anything that arises on the front lines of patient care.”

HSN’s new Simulation Lab is currently located in the Sudbury Outpatient Centre. The Simulation Lab is the cornerstone of HSN’s Learners' Centre capital project. The Learners Centre will involve 20,000 square feet of newly constructed and renovated space to accommodate up to 670 medical learners a year.

In addition to the Simulation Lab, the Learners Centre will feature classrooms, video teleconferencing rooms, seminar rooms, on-call rooms, a learners lounge and individual work stations for medical students and residents.