Wayne State Opens Medical Training Center with Patient Mannequins

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 06/22/09

The Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit has opened a new education hub that features state-of-the-science technology. The $35 million, three-story, 53,000-square-foot Richard J. Mazurek, M.D., Medical Education Commons connects to the School of Medicine's Scott Hall, nearly doubling the class space at the School of Medicine. Training facilities include a Clinical Skills Center with four simulation labs, two of which are fully functioning operating rooms. Each of the labs contains patient mannequins that can speak, breathe, bleed, and display a spectrum of symptoms to test medical students. Instructors can observe students in action from outside the rooms and challenge students by constantly tweaking the "patient's" conditions.

The center will include examination rooms in which students and residents will interact with live "patients" trained to enact any number of symptoms and conditions. The exam rooms are fitted with cameras and all interactions are videotaped so that instructors can provide immediate feedback or review the tapes with students later.

"Many of our students tell us that they choose Wayne State University because of our ability to see and treat such a wide variety of conditions through our commitment to serve the regional population," said Robert Frank, executive vice dean of the School of Medicine. "This new building and our new training equipment will ensure that we continue to produce the physicians and researchers of the future."

Another key component of the new facility will be its ability to serve as a hub for Continuing Medical Education courses. Physicians from around the state and country will have access to ongoing professional medical education at the Mazurek Commons.

The building, which includes a newly revised Shiffman Medical Library, is named for Richard J. Mazurek, a 1961 graduate of the School of Medicine. Mazurek, now deceased, was honored with a naming gift of $10.2 million by his business partner, Nick Labedz, a gift that stands as the largest single donation to Wayne State.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

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