The first in a statewide network of patient simulation research and education centers opened today at Greenville Hospital System, marking the first step in what Health Sciences South Carolina (HSSC) hopes will become the national model for state-of-the-art clinical training for physicians, nurses and allied health professionals, and ultimately, higher quality medical care and safer hospitals.
Part of HSSC’s Research Center of Economic Excellence in Clinical Effectiveness and Patient Safety, the Greenville Healthcare Simulation Center is located on the Greenville Memorial Medical Campus. Although the 6,500-square-foot location is temporary, it houses sophisticated simulation technology valued at half a million dollars, including six high-end full-body adult and infant simulators. The simulators are used to provide clinical training to medical, nursing and allied health professions students as well as continuing education for practicing healthcare professionals.
The Greenville Healthcare Simulation Center will eventually be housed in the Research Education and Innovation Institute (REI) on the Health Sciences and Innovation Campus at Greenville Memorial and will nearly double in size to 12,000 square feet to accommodate expanded education and research programs.
Michael Riordan, president and CEO of Greenville Hospital System, hosted the formal opening ceremony of the center, and credited the vision and efforts of many stakeholders who turned a kernel of an idea into a potential national model in less than 18 months.
Said Riordan, “The Greenville Healthcare Simulation Center represents the truly tremendous things that can happen when great minds not only think alike, but act together. I must give tremendous credit to the South Carolina General Assembly, which in 2005, invested $5 million in Health Sciences to create a Research Center of Economic Excellence in Clinical Effectiveness and Patient Safety, and to The Duke Endowment, which awarded HSSC a $21 million grant to be used, in part, to advance patient safety and clinical effectiveness.
“I also credit my good friend and colleague, Dr. Tom Barton, president of Greenville Technical College, for his vision of bettering nursing and allied health education through the use of patient simulators. Dr. Barton’s idea blossomed within Health Sciences South Carolina and today we are looking at the first of what will soon become a statewide network of simulation centers that will revolutionize the clinical education of healthcare providers and significantly improve quality and patient safety in our hospitals,” Riordan continued.
HSSC’s statewide network of simulation centers will operate under the name of HealthCare Simulation South Carolina and under the direction of John J. Schaefer, III, M.D., who holds the Endowed Chair in Patient Simulation Education and Research. Dr. Schaefer, an internationally recognized expert in patient simulators, is charged with establishing the integrated network of simulation centers, which will ultimately include seven locations: Beaufort, Charleston, Clemson, Columbia (2), and Spartanburg.
HSSC Chair and MUSC President Ray Greenberg said the timing of this unparalleled effort could not be better for those who wish to pursue careers in medicine, nursing and allied health professions, and those who want and need access to high quality, safe healthcare services.
“In virtually every sector of the healthcare workforce, there is a shortage of qualified people. Our state’s network of simulation centers, working with medical colleges, nursing colleges, and technical colleges, will elevate the quality of education and also the capacity of current programs. Having more doctors, nurses, and technicians educated in this state-of-the-art manner will benefit the entire state of South Carolina,” Greenberg said.
Affirming its commitment to using health sciences research to improve the health of all South Carolinians, HSSC announced the naming of the Endowed Chair in Clinical Effectiveness for Lewis Blackman, a 15-year-old boy who passed away in 2000 at the Medical University Hospital in Charleston after suffering complications from surgery that went untreated. MUSC College of Medicine Dean Jerry Reves, M.D., presented Blackman’s mother Helen Haskell, a tireless advocate for improved patient safety, with a plaque that will be displayed at each of the simulation centers. The plaque will serve to remind current and future healthcare providers of their primary mission, the health and safety of patients.
About Health Sciences South Carolina
Established in April 2004 by the Greenville Hospital System, Medical University of South Carolina, Palmetto Health and the University of South Carolina, Health Sciences South Carolina—the “Collaborative”—was founded with the vision of improving the health and economic wellbeing of South Carolina through a coordinated effort to advance health sciences research and education. The Collaborative, which now includes Clemson University and Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System, is an inclusive public-private partnership that seeks to bring together research universities, health systems, and other partners committed to its vision. For more information, visit www.healthsciencessc.org. |
