The City University of New York (CUNY) and NYU Langone Medical have opened a new state-of-the-art trauma simulation training center to prepare doctors, nurses, and first responders for major emergencies. The “New York Simulation Center for Health Sciences” just opened at Bellevue Hospital Center in Manhattan, is the largest urban health simulation and training facility to improve the city’s response to medical emergencies in case of terrorist attacks or natural disasters.
What makes the center unique is not only the advanced technology used but the fact that it brings together nurses, doctors, medical students, and first responders in a collaborative multidisciplinary setting.
The 25,000 square foot facility provides the opportunity for healthcare personnel to confront challenging real world scenarios from multiple patient triages to surgical and clinical emergencies using state-of-the-art mannequins and plastic body parts that can bleed, be sedated, or even give birth. Professionally trained actor patients with a variety of ailments will also help trainees on site learn patient management and treatment techniques.
The center features multiple simulation rooms including a disaster training room, a five-bed ICU, two operating rooms, trauma rooms, a labor and delivery room, and 14 patient examination rooms. All the rooms are equipped with more than 100 cameras to record training sessions so they can be played back for students.
The center is also available for training emergency management workers from a variety of city agencies. In addition, New York Downtown Hospital will use the facilities for decontamination and other emergency management training exercises.
According to CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein, “The unusual experience of weathering two natural disasters in the same week such as an earthquake and a hurricane has served as a reminder to all New Yorkers of just how much we rely on trained personnel who can respond to emergencies in an instant. In a disaster, there is no better preparation than to use hands-on-training through simulated real-world scenarios.”
