The Dow Clinical Simulation suite is named in honour of (right)  Professor David Dow, former Master of Queen's College, Dundee, and his wife Dr Agnes Dow, both long-standing benefactors of the University of Dundee. Their philanthropic work is carried on today by the Dow Memorial Trust which has provided £600,000 of funding for the suite.
 
The Dow Trustees, along with representatives of the University and NHS Tayside will join Sir Kenneth for the opening ceremony. The balance of the funding of more than £300,000 came from NHS Tayside.
 
The suite enables students and healthcare practitioners to rehearse their standards of clinical practice in a realistic environment and the unique facility has the potential to not only prepare healthcare practitioners, but enables the NHS to redesign systems of care and patient safely. 
 
It features a six-bed hospital ward, three examination rooms and a High Dependency Unit, all built and equipped to latest NHS standards. These can replicate the setting of Accident and Emergency, General Practice, High Dependency, Acute Medical Admission, Neo-natal Resuscitation and surgical units for training purposes.

Specialist IT, audio and visual technologies allows all activities within the suite to be recorded for review and storage of both individual student and team practice.
 
Volunteers act as simulated patients on their health journey from initial assessment as an outpatient, through admission and treatment in hospital and on to follow-up care after discharge.
 
Demonstrations of neonatal high dependency, acute medical, and other simulation exercises will take place as part of the opening ceremony. An example of the video debriefing given to students as performance evaluation will also take place.
 
Working with simulated patients in scenarios commonly encountered by healthcare practitioners brings an added dimension to the training of healthcare professionals, according to (right)  Professor Jean Ker, director of the Clinical Skills Centre. “The Dow Clinical Simulation suite is a wonderful facility because it allows students to bring together all their skills and practice them safely in a healthcare environment, which prepares them for the workplace,” she said.
 
“Medical students must obviously learn the theory that underpins their professional role, but putting that into practice is an entirely different proposition. Dealing with patients and performing procedures on them brings entirely new challenges and tests not only their technical, but also their communication, patient care and decision making skills.
 
“Video debriefing rooms help us chart their progress as they move through the years of their course. We can identify both what they did well and the areas for improvement.
 
“The suite gives them a clear idea of what it means to be in a busy NHS environment and give them more responsibility than they would get during their on-ward training. Overall aim is to reduce variations in the standards of care delivered, the best way of improving patient outcomes and satisfaction.”
 
Students also use fully functioning NHS IT systems at the suite so they practice how to record information relating to admissions, treatment, medication and discharges. An equipment room allows them to set up for procedures, while all activity can be monitored from a viewing room from where tutors follow and analyse the students work.

Contextual learning is a major feature of the training provided within the Clinical Skills Centre, and the new facilities will greatly enhance the range of simulation activities and teaching, providing students with a unique insight into modern healthcare practice.
 
Professor Ker said the success of the suite rested on the volunteers who give up their own time to work with the students. Mannequins are only used for certain specialist procedures, such as surgical training, so the majority of time the students work with members of the local community, which helps to bring the students’ education to life.
 
“The simulated patients learn to describe symptoms that our healthcare students will then be required to cope with,” explained Professor Ker. “When staff are working in a clinic they don’t know what they will face during a shift and we have tried to replicate this unpredictability.
 
“This teaches students to think on their feet and deal with situations safely as they develop. The simulated patients are given a variety of scripts. Some will present certain symptoms, which students will diagnose and treat, while others might collapse and the students will have to deal with that situation when already pressured by a full case load.
 
“We have more than 100 volunteers who act as simulated patients. They are made up with cuts, bruises and other features that help us create realistic and challenging scenarios for our students. Our volunteers are given training to ensure the simulation is as realistic as possible, as this is vital to the success of the students’ training.
 
“The value of this kind of learning cannot be underestimated. I cannot thank the volunteers enough for what they do. The give up a lot of their time, and are very dedicated and excellent with the students. The majority of them have received treatment at Ninewells in the past and wanted to give something back.”
 
“I would also like to thank our funders for helping to make this a reality. The Dow Clinical Simulation Suite will significantly enhance the provision of skills education in Dundee.”

CLINICAL SIMULATION CENTRES IN EUROPE

Around 124 clinical simulation centres exist in European data based and are listed by Bristol Medical Simulation Centre (BMSC). This gives the Centres, their locations (Aberdeen boasts two The Royal Infirmary's Hybaric Medicine Unit and the University Clinical Skills Centre) the website, the SIM Type (Dundee Clinical Skills Centre has Laerdal SimMan, iStan& Harvey) and the date of establishment
(In Dundee's case markeed unknown)

Someone had better mail them info@bmsc.co.uk with the Dow Clinical Suite opening date!!