Medical Simulation Laboratory at Springfield College

The School of Health Sciences and Rehabilitation Studies medical simulation laboratory, or sim lab, in Blake Hall assists students in gaining hands-on experience before working on live humans as they prepare for careers in the medical field.

The state-of-the-art medical simulation lab features high fidelity 3G adult and baby patient simulator mannequins that respond to treatment as human patients would, allowing students to experience realistic, hands-on training and complicated medical techniques without fear of error. This laboratory is instrumental in furthering the training that future health care professionals, such as physician assistants, receive at Springfield College.

Although nicknamed “Sim Man,” the virtual patient is capable of representing either gender. It performs cardiac and other vital functions while exhibiting vital signs such as pulse and eye pupil constriction or dilation. It has an airway, displays normal and disruptive breathing, perspiration, tremors, tears, seizures, and makes heart, lung, and gastric noises.

Medical simulation provides an optimal learning experience for students by affording them the opportunity to build confidence and practice what they have learned in the classroom on an electronically complex simulator before working on live patients. The mannequins, manufactured by Laerdal, are programmed to exhibit human responses when they receive treatment—an injection or oxygen, for example.