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bench research; that's not typically the resident we attract," she says. "Our culture and teaching style are focused on clinical skill with an emphasis on quality care and patient safety. We attract faculty who want to teach, are good at teaching and see clinical care as their primary mission. "When medical students come to HCMC for training, they become an integral part of the clinical team. They may present their patients at a morning report or morbidity conference and can quickly become the trusted provider to a patient or family. Residents in surgery, emergency medicine and internal medicine do rotations together and may run 3 a.m. codes together. Our interdepartmental approach builds collaborative responsiveness and trust between residents. We, as faculty, oversee their day-to-day roles and provide hands-on opportunities to engage, discuss and learn." Students respond to HCMC's approach to medical training. Every year, each of the university's four medical school classes selects a favorite teacher from their rotations at Twin Cities teaching hospitals. This past spring, three of the four classes chose faculty from HCMC. "Education is part of HCMC's mission," explains Dr. Walsh. "We are proud that university students recognize our faculty as a strong anchor for teaching at the medical school." In January 2013, HCMC will open a new simulation center designed for both student and hospital training. The $3.5 million facility will offer the most cutting-edge procedural technology in the metro area. The center is designed with two large rooms that can simulate an emergency department stabilization bay or intensive care unit (ICU). The stabilization setting features a full range of monitoring and radiology equipment, allowing medical faculty to simulate a real trauma with the participation of a multidisciplinary team of nurses, students, residents, faculty and pharmacists. Faculty can build exact scenarios for curriculum, and learners will be able to practice procedures and simulate interventions they may have to perform in real life. The ICU environment will provide staging for a variety of situations ranging from a family meeting and discussion to a simulated code experience. Sophisticated mannequins can interact with the learner and can be programmed to create vitals and findings that simulate heart or lung exams. Students can perform surgical procedures on the mannequin in a realistic bedside setting. During simulations, equipment and procedural techniques will be integrated with order sets in HCMC's electronic health record system. Learners can work with the equipment, create a sterile field, practice a procedure on a mannequin and enter orders in the electronic health record. A soundproof control room allows individuals controlling the simulation to change vitals, medications and scenarios in real time. Observing rooms with mirrored windows enable faculty to observe and record everything done during a simulation, so practice sessions can be debriefed with video resources. "Debriefing is the key," says Dr. Walsh. "We can watch the video and talk with students about how they felt and what they could have done differently. It's a powerful tool for learning." The value of the simulation center extends beyond student and resident training. "We see the center as a vehicle to bring all of our medical professionals together and build more continuity across our multidisciplinary teams," explains Dr. Walsh. "The simulation center's resources enable us to rehearse situations we rarely see and improve targeted procedures. As we acquire new technologies, we can test them in simulation before we roll them out to the institution broadly. This process enables us to achieve quality improvement in a very controlled, organized setting. Additionally, we can improve patient satisfaction scores by working with a patient in the simulation center to do patient and family counseling and discussion. It's a powerful tool to coordinate better care." As a Level 7 electronic medical records (EMR) facility, HCMC is committed to maximizing the use of EHR technology for patient care. "Level 7 is the highest level of EMR implementation," explains Dr. Walsh. "Only 1.9% of hospitals across the country have achieved Level 7 recognition. It signifies not only that our hospital has an EMR, but that our medical record system is truly paperless. When I enter a drug for a patient, our system will flag me if the patient has an allergy to the drug. If a patient is at risk of spreading an infectious disease, such as MRSA, the medical record will help remind all providers, regardless of the location of the patient, to help minimize risk of contact exposure. This level of sophistication actually helps our physicians, nurses and pharmacists provide better care." The Twin Cities is one of the few metropolitan areas where patient records can be accessed electronically between hospital emergency rooms. Metro health care MDNEWS.COM I MD NEWS Twin Cities |7

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