Integration of the Human Patient Simulator into the Medical Student Curriculum

Abstract

To date, the main educational thrust of anesthesia (human patient) simulators has been on learning and practice in the operating room environment. The utility of anesthesia simulators in medical practice outside the operating room is just recently being realized. The human patient simulator has a number of attributes that make it useful in teaching, and possibly evaluating, the skills necessary to care for the acutely ill patient. As critical care itself developed as an extension of the operating room environment, the use of simulation in critical care education is an expected evolution of this technology.