About the Clinical Skills Simulation Center

The Clinical Skills Simulation Center applies sophisticated simulation and trainer technologies to educate medical students, residents, registered nurses, first responders, certified nursing assistants, home health aides and community healthcare providers. The Florida Atlantic University Clinical Skills Simulation Center (CSSC) integrates new simulation and trainer technologies into the curriculum for medical students and medical professionals in practice. The literature suggests, and we have observed, that participants will learn faster, become familiar with advanced technology, improve their clinical skills, enhance critical thinking, and become more self-assured in their skills while under the supervision of trained instructors.

Fast Facts

Students examining mannequin at the Clinical Skills Simulation CenterTwo state-of-the-art simulation laboratories to provide safe, effective practice for healthcare students and providers in an effort to reduce and/or eliminate preventable adverse events.

  • The Simulation center was initially established in 2006 on the FAU Boca Campus and a second Center was added in May 2009 in West Palm Beach. In 2013, the Boca facility expanded into a new 8,000 square foot state of the art facility. In 2017, an additional 7,000 square feet of skills training was added to the CSSC.
  • The CSSC Boca Campus Center has 16 state of the art simulation rooms and the West Palm Beach Campus has five.
  • CSSC has over 20 mannequins including adult male and female, pediatric, neonatal, and obstetrics birthing mannequins.
  • CSSC provides specialized training to medical students, medical interns, medical residents, registered nurses, nursing students, and other licensed healthcare workers from all fields of medicine and nursing, including non-licensed caregivers and home caregivers.
  • CSSC has contracts with local hospitals for ongoing professional development for individual staff members and for teams.
  • CSSC has contracts with fire and rescue companies, county healthcare districts, and private practitioners to train newly hired staff, to update current staff, and to re-certify professionals. The facilities feature rooms modeled after Doctor’s Exam Rooms, Intensive Care, Acute Care, Emergency Department, Surgical Suite, Clinical Examination, and Skilled Nursing.

Model Patient Care, Acute Care, Obstetrics, Neonatal, Pediatrics, and ER 

The CSSC created models of hospital room, patient examination, and emergency rooms for simulated patient treatment in Boca Raton at the FAU Boca campus and in West Palm Beach at the Palm Healthcare Pavilion. The rooms are fully equipped with hospital beds, gurnies or exam tables, monitors, IV poles, defibrillators, blood pressure cuffs, simulated oxygen ports, otoscopes and ophthalmoscopes and all equipment and supplies required to respond to medical and nursing interventions, including emergencies.

Each Center uses high fidelity wireless, full body male and female mannequins. Additional mannequins used by the Centers include Birthing Mother, Neonatal, Pediatric, and Emergency Care Simulator mannequins simulating real life events. The simulators track all actions taken and all pharmacological agents given to the patients. If incorrect drugs or dosages are administered, the high-fidelity patient responds exactly as a human patient would respond. Preceptors and session facilitators provide guidance.

The CSSC employs standardized patients (actors) who are trained to react to questions posed by medical students as they practice history or physical examinations. The CSSC provides an opportunity to continue to expand the hands on simulated patient encounters which provides a rich learning opportunity for self-reflection and improvement in the humanistic and empathetic approach to patient care. The CSSC supports the training through all four years of the medical school curriculum. We continue with Resident training for all of our numerous programs. Our residency programs utilize virtual reality surgical simulators, ultrasound guided central line placement, laparoscopic trainers as well as scenario based mannequin training. The goal of the Centers is to enhance patient safety and treatment by simulating medical scenarios and providing the opportunity to practice, prepare and analyze every aspect of the chain of patient care and treatment, thus leading to avoidance and reduction in medical errors. By creating a sense of reality, through the "suspension of disbelief" on the part of the participants, they believe they are involved in actual medical care. This added dimension stresses even the most seasoned professional, and greatly enhances the learning experience. Through the utilization of sophisticated simulators that combine "high tech" with "real world" responses, the Centers simulate medical conditions and employs interactive activities to repeat these procedures until the desired response becomes second nature. The key to learning is to develop "critical thinking", and be able to respond to the myriad of scenario conditions that the professionals will encounter outside of the Center.

Additional Information
The Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine offers students a variety of educational programs and degrees.
Address
Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine
Florida Atlantic University
777 Glades Road, BC-71
Boca Raton, FL 33431