Current commentarySimulation laboratories for training in obstetrics and gynecology☆
Section snippets
The origins of medical simulation
Medical simulation likely predates recorded history. Stone carvings from the Fertile Crescent during the Paleolithic period indicate that prehistoric humans placed a special interest in childbirth. The archaeological record shows that the ancestors to the Siberian Mansai people produced scale leather birth models of women. Presumably these were used in rituals and to teach the maneuvers of assisted birth. Plastic, rubber, and cloth birth dolls are still used in labor and delivery units to teach
The current rationale for implementing simulation
Military simulators, particularly aviation simulators, have much in common with medical simulators. Medical simulation, like aviation simulation, involves the application of complex decision making, time-sensitive action, and skilled tasks. Medical simulations are similar to flying a plane inasmuch as the tasks are confined to a finite space. In aviation, this space is the cockpit. In medical simulation it may be a treatment room or an operating room. Most importantly, learning to treat and
Evolution of medical simulation in obstetric and gynecologic training
The National Capital Consortium consists of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and the military teaching hospitals in the Washington, DC, area. It is endowed with several medical simulation facilities on campus and in the teaching hospitals, including robotic anesthesia simulators, ultrasound simulators, endoscopy simulators, patient actor rooms, and an anthropomorphic robotic birth simulator. Also available to the consortium are simulation workshops connected to the World
Future role of simulation in obstetrics and gynecology
Medical simulation may be an ancient art, but it is a young science, one just now finding a foothold at our institutions of higher learning. This newness is not necessarily a handicap but could be a great advantage. Simulation as a science has grown within other communities, and the hard lessons learned in these disciplines could be used by organized medicine to build even better systems. Residents and students within the National Capital Consortium work with the faculty to modify and improve
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The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Uniformed Services University, the Department of the Army, the Department of the Navy, the Department of the Air Force, or the Department of Defense.