The Simulation and Inter-professional Education Center

The Simulation and Inter-professional Education Center (SIEC) is an educational platform to support the educational and health care missions of the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Its mission is to serve the simulation-based educational needs of all UMMC trainees, faculty and clinical services. SIEC’s goals are to:

• Improve patient care and safety by providing a manikin-based, integrative learning vehicle where critical patient care skills are introduced and improved in a safe environment with the participants' educational needs in focus;
• Help identify and implement innovative and emerging educational initiatives in UMMC's health care professional curricula;
• Offer interactive and hands-on critical skills workshops and continuing medical education (CME) forums for UMMC faculty and state physicians;
• Offer inter-professional team training activities that include medical students, residents, nurses and other health care professionals;
• Contribute to UMMC's community outreach efforts to raise health awareness and recruit new students from diverse backgrounds by providing tours of the facility; and
• Provide rapid response trainings to meet urgent health system needs related to patient and employee safety.

Simulation encompasses the use of artificial models (computer models, virtual reality, manikins) with varying degrees of fidelity to the human state, application of role-playing to model communication among professional team members and with patients and family, and interaction of trainees with standardized patients in scenarios mimicking real clinical encounters. This training environment permits trainees to develop proficiency in life-saving invasive procedures, and communication and clinical reasoning skills prior to exposure to actual patients. Simulation also can dynamically assess critical needs in patient care processes, unit organization and team relationships within actual practice structures, all of which advance patient safety and reduce medical errors.

Dr. Helen Turner, Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, founded the SIEC in the fall of 2005. The first medical director was Dr. William “Jim” Phillips, associate professor of anesthesiology and emergency medicine. The center originally was located in the basement of the Classroom Wing (CW) building. The first users of the simulation center were from the departments of emergency medicine and anesthesiology.  Later on the simulation center moved to the 2^nd floor of the CW building, expanding its services to the needs of the Institution on training students from the School of Medicine, School of Nursing, School of Dentistry and all healthcare professionals from the University Hospitals.  The Simulation Center received support from the Robert M. Hearin Foundation to expand its educational mission and in 2017 moved to the new building of the School of Medicine on the 4^th floor with 7,235 sq. ft space allocated for its activities. Currently, the Simulation Center is under the administration of the Department of Advanced Biomedical Education (DABE) in the School of Medicine. The Simulation Cener is training students from all 7 Schools (SOM, SOD, SON, SHRP, SGSHS, SoPh, SOPH) in the main campus of the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

The center is equipped with state-of-the-art technology including, simulators for procedures such as phlebotomy, spinal tap, central vein catheterization, thoracic decompression, arthroscopy, genitourinary examination and catheterization, airway examination and intubation,  ophthalmic examination, cardiac ultrasound, cardiac auscultation, and high fidelity manikins with capabilities of simulating real case scenarios with verbal communication, and real time feedback responding to user interventions. In addition, the center is developing a virtual reality simulation platform to provide immersive experiences of procedures and interactions with patients performed in a clinical setting.

During the fiscal year 2022-2023, the Simulation Center served 5,526 learners, totalizing 19,176 hours of training, including students, healthcare professionals, and community members. Moreover, the Center is including in its expansion initiatives the implementation of hands-on training for healthcare professionals located in distant hospitals and community centers with the implementation of a mobile unit. The faculty and staff associated with the Simulation Center includes one Medical Director, three Medical Co-Directors, one Director of Operations, one Manager, two Coordinators, and two volunteers medical students.

The Simulation Center is the only in the state of Mississippi providing hands-on training for students and healthcare professionals utilizing immersive technologies, and state-of-the-art simulators.