The Yale Center for Medical Simulation, which opened on Jan. 26, will provide Yale School of Medicine students and Yale-New Haven Hospital residents with the opportunity to practice surgery and emergency medicine scenarios.

Administrators and students interviewed said the center would help students translate their theoretical training into practical skills. Once a week, over a 12-week period, every third-year student at the medical school visits the center to participate in 15 to 20-minute training exercises followed by discussion and evaluation by medical faculty.

Simulation fellow Tiffany Moadel, an instructor in emergency medicine at the School of Medicine, said the center is a marked improvement from the one cramped room where students previously had to undergo simulation training. The training is an important part of a students education, she said, because it pushes students to make decisions according to clinical management, which does not always happen in their clerkships.

All three students interviewed echoed Moadels statements.

The best way to learn is doing it hands on, said David Zhu MED 16.

Charles Li MED 16 said the center was useful because students have not been put in any decision-making roles before.

During the exercises, groups of four students take turns diagnosing and operating on high-tech mannequins.

It started an hour ago when I was watching the news, 68-year-old Mr. Parker complained to four medical students gathered around his hospital bed. Its this terrible shooting pain down my back. I was hoping to watch Ellen DeGeneres.

Mr. Parker is one of the mannequins at the YCMS.

In each simulation, one student serves as the team leader. He or she must process all incoming information and quickly make decisions. A resident doctor playing the role of the patients family member or a nurse is always present in the room as well.

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Simulation Center provides hands-on training