An increasing number of teaching hospitals in California are incorporating simulation technology into their medical training to better prepare medical professionals for emergencies, the Oakland Tribune reports.
Many teaching hospitals in the state, including Stanford University and the University of California-San Francisco, are integrating simulation training, including robots, 3-D computer training and role playing, into their curriculums, said Dr. David Gaba, founder of the country's leading center for medical simulations at Stanford.
Fewer hospital chains have adopted the technology, "[b]ut it's starting to catch on," Gaba said.
Staff at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Redwood City, Calif., use a $29,000 robot that can be programmed to display a variety of symptoms to train for medical emergencies.
"Medicine is the last high-risk industry" that does not train together to prepare for the stress and chaos of responding to a medical emergency, said Dr. Paul Preston, regional patient safety educator for Kaiser Permanente. "We really should be free to learn our jobs and not harm anyone if we make a mistake," he said.
Gaba noted that there is not yet definitive data on the efficacy of simulation training in improving patient outcomes, but he said, "I think those of us that do it have no question that it's made a difference" (Bohan, Oakland Tribune, 1/26).