Medical Simulation Center
Research Interests, Projects and Grants

Brown Medical School "Innovations in Medical Education" grant (Enhanced ACLS Training)

This grant aims to:

Provide a high fidelity simulated patient model to better represent actual clinical scenarios for enhanced training in cardiac resuscitations. Students will be challenged to move beyond basic knowledge acquired in ACLS, and learn to prioritize and coordinate tasks through improved teamwork.
Teach students fundamental teamwork behaviors and how these can be applied in the healthcare environment to reduce medical error.
Introduce the concept of a multi-disciplinary training situation, where students and nurses will be part of the medical team in order to appreciate each other's skills, knowledge and team roles.
Introduce the concept of medical error and allow students the opportunity to learn from actual error, which occurs in a simulated environment. Also, to test the students' abilities to problem solve and adapt to an unexpected changing environment.
Evaluate medical student teamwork skills by using the Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scale (BARS) developed in aviation, which includes ratings for maintenance of team structure, team communication, execution of tasks, adaptation to change, and ability to self-evaluate. Also, see if teamwork improves after a brief didactic and video intervention.