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The Hamamatsu University School of Medicine in Japan was one of the earliest adopters of high-fidelity patient simulation in the mid-1990s. In 2012, the university opened its new patient simulation center for medical students, residents, nurses and paramedics. Dr. Koji Morita, assistant professor and vice director at the university, oversees the simulation center.
At the center, anesthesia residents are required to pass a skills level qualification test on a patient simulator before they can treat a patient. Using CAE Healthcare’s HPS, the residents practice their responses to complications of anesthesia.
Several times a year, the simulation center hosts advanced courses in crisis management sponsored by the Japanese Society of Anesthesiologists, the Japan Society for Clinical Anesthesia and the Japanese Association for Medical Simulation. The physicians practice scenarios related to obstetric crisis cases, including massive bleeding and hemorrhagic shock, as well as scenarios for anesthesia, which include malignant hyperthermia, pulmonary embolism, anaphylactic shock and cardiac tamponade.
The university also invites high school students with an interest in medicine to half-day seminars with speakers. After the presentations, students spend an hour in the simulation center with the HPS, where they can touch and interact with the “patient” and check his vital signs.
