Grant will help simulation center to train health care providers

LYNCHBURG — Lynchburg College and Centra Health received a $200,000 grant from the Virginia Tobacco Commission for a health simulation lab that will provide medical training for local students and health care practitioners.

The Center for Simulation and Virtual Learning is slated to open early next year in a vacant space next to Centra’s Lynchburg Family Medicine Center in The Plaza shopping center. Building on a long-standing relationship, Centra and Lynchburg College will co-manage and co-fund the $663,000 project, said Patti McCue, Centra chief nursing officer and senior vice president.

The goal is to produce “more well-prepared and more competent” health care clinicians, McCue said.

The lab will allow an additional 85 students a year to get hands-on training with computer-controlled mannequins that simulate medical conditions of human patients. The simulation lab will complement on-site work with patients at local hospitals and medical facilities.

The mannequins can be programmed to mimic conditions like cardiac arrest or congestive heart failure in real-time through changes in vital signs and other symptoms. The training is videotaped so the students can evaluate how they handled the situation.

“Simulation is now an emerging technology that is going to become increasingly important in the whole realm of patient safety,” McCue said.

The technology behind simulation mannequins has taken off in the last decade. Newer models can talk and interact with students, and can even “die” if care is inadequate.

“A mistake in a simulation lab would not be as critical as a mistake on site,” said LC President Kenneth Garren.

The lab will provide a boost to Lynchburg College’s nursing program, which currently enrolls about 205 students.

“We really don’t have the necessary space to set up a simulation lab with our current facilities. It’s so crowded,” said Linda Andres, LC’s Dean of Health Sciences & Human Performance.

The new facility will feature seven stations with simulation mannequins, including an adult, child, newborn and a pregnant woman. It will be open to area college students and health care professionals who need additional training.

The project has been in the works more than a year. The Virginia Tobacco Commission turned down the grant proposal twice, before its recent decision to award the money.

“We knew it was important,” said Garren, who pleaded the case of the lab before the commission.