Editor’s Note: There are always plenty of new and exciting ventures to be found in Memphis. The Bluff City has become something of a hub for innovation, daring creators and dreamers to discover new breakthroughs that move our community forward. In 2023, for our eleventh annual Innovation Awards, Memphis Magazine features five progress-focused individuals and organizations who are showcasing Memphis’ continued evolution through innovation. This year, we recognize UTHSC’s state-of-the-art center for healthcare improvement and patient simulation, Dr. Stephen Haynes and Rhodes College’s curated curriculum that bring the liberal arts to incarcerated students, Dr. Ernö Lindner’s fast-acting drug detection technology which improves medical response time for overdose patients, Tennis Memphis and its commitment to making the sport accessible to all, and the Overton Park Shell’s mobile “Shell on Wheels” that brings live music to every corner of Memphis. They’re all worthy winners in their own right, and are doing their utmost to move Memphis forward. We will celebrate our winners at the 2023 Innovation Awards breakfast on Tuesday, October 10th, sponsored by Protech Services Group and eBiz Solutions. — Samuel X. Cicci
How does a doctor become a doctor? Easy, just go to med school. All you have to do is go through the grind of classes and lectures and research for years.
But that’s not enough.
It takes a good dose of practical experience before a student in the health sciences can truly master the art of healing. As it happens, the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) has one of the top programs in the country that delivers cutting-edge methods of teaching: practical simulations.
The Center for Healthcare Improvement and Patient Simulation (CHIPS) gives students experience in dealing with realistic situations in a sophisticated and controlled environment.
photograph courtesy uthsc
Dr. Tara Lemoine
The use of simulation in healthcare training was highlighted in a 1999 Institute of Medicine report that acknowledged that healthcare failures led to unnecessary deaths and excessive medical costs. That prompted more widespread use of simulation training for healthcare workers who could learn crucial clinical skills, communication, decision-making, crisis resource management, teamwork, and critical thinking — all before meeting a patient.
The center at UTHSC operates out of a 45,000-square-foot building for healthcare simulation and interprofessional education. Tara Lemoine, a doctor of osteopathic medicine, is the executive director of CHIPS. She says, “In the application of recreating realistic events and situations, learning occurs in a controlled environment with the highest degree of technical, physical, and psychological realism possible.”
But what does that entail, exactly?
The building, which opened in 2018, is full of simulation equipment that can resemble heart rates, pulses, heart sounds, and breathing sounds. There are manikins — which can run from $15,000 to $220,000 — that closely replicate the responses, physiology, and anatomy of a real patient. Students can make mistakes without hurting a soul and with faculty at hand to make sure procedures are done correctly.
photograph courtesy uthsc
CHIPS is one of the few healthcare centers in the country that provides comprehensive training via practical simulations for both students and clinical providers.
Further, the training is not just for the students. The CHIPS team also provides professional development for clinical providers in the community to spread up-to-date training.
Each floor of the three-story building is dedicated to a different aspect of simulation training. The first floor includes bed-skill stations for preclinical skills and assessments. A virtual-reality room allows students to practice simulated procedures, including endoscopies, ultrasounds, and robotic surgeries. There is also a simulated home environment, where students can practice delivering in-home patient care.
The second floor houses a simulated acute-care setting resembling a hospital environment with patient rooms and a variety of manikins that can replicate situations from surgery to labor and delivery. Some manikins are so sophisticated they allow students to “deliver” a baby (also a manikin), while carefully monitoring both the “mother” and her “child” during the entire procedure. The simulations are even programmed to express pain and discomfort.
“The changing world of healthcare education demands the incorporation of innovative strategies, and access to simulation can transform individuals into competent professionals.” — Dr. Tara Lemoine
The third floor houses the standardized patient program, which uses actors to portray patients. It includes 24 patient exam rooms, as well as a community pharmacy setting. A typical encounter between a student and a standardized patient might have the student enter the examining room and ask the patient to talk about what brought them in for the examination. The actor/patient will answer but without much elaboration so that the student can learn to ask the right questions.
photograph courtesy uthsc
The impact of simulation training affects healthcare outcomes in real life, Lemoine says. “Obstetric simulation has been successfully used to improve maternal and infant morbidity. Simulation activities at local area hospitals and critical access facilities in rural and underserved areas, focusing on delivering value-based care, have demonstrated decreased cost and improved health care outcomes.”
In other words, it saves lives and saves money.
CHIPS says it has welcomed 19,410 learners through simulation events, accounting for 33,543 learner hours in 2022. That number is expected to grow to more than 38,000 hours by the end of the 2023 academic year. The building is the only one of its kind in Tennessee and one of only a handful in the country built for and totally dedicated to simulation training.
“The changing world of healthcare education demands the incorporation of innovative strategies, and access to simulation can transform individuals into competent professionals,” Lemoine says. “By harnessing technology, we can create competent healthcare providers that change our community’s health now and into the future.”
