Simulation Learning Center

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN)—One of California’s most prominent medical simulation labs opened in the Valley.

Students at Gurnick Academy of Medical Arts in northeast Fresno can now practice clinical skills on robotic patients. The lab is similar to a hospital with multiple realistic robot patient simulators. Each patient is controlled by a technician who can recreate different scenarios students might see in the hospital.

“They take those scenarios and make them come to life,” said simulation coordinator Shelvia Salvano. “They have vital signs they put onto the monitors so that the students can see hemodynamic changes in heart rate, blood pressure, and things of that nature.” Click here to read the full article.

For Immediate Release: Gurnick Academy to House New Lab

SAN MATEO, Calif., May 19, 2022—Gurnick Academy of Medical Arts is hosting an official open house and ribbon-cutting for a newly built Simulation Learning Center on Thursday, May 26, from 11 AM to 1 PM at the school’s Fresno Campus (located at 4747 North First St., Fresno, Calif.). 

Constructed amid the pandemic and completed on May 1, the 5,000-square-foot skills center features leading interactive healthcare equipment, patient simulators, high-fidelity mannequins, a centralized command center, a didactic lecture facility, and offices accommodating nursing leadership. 

Specific to the Fresno Campus, the newly constructed space allows students and practitioners to practice clinical skills without potential patient risks. “An advanced Simulation Learning Center [will] empower students to achieve care through evidence-based practices and interprofessional collaboration,” says the California-based, allied-educational healthcare system in a mission statement. 

Bridging healthcare learning initiatives, training stations like these are being used more frequently within academic medical institutions. Simulated labs provide virtual and in-person patient experiences, self-paced learning environments, and realistic yet adaptive clinicals, with patient-centric curriculum delivery ranging from live birthing to burn victims and surgery simulation.¹

Anatomically equipped to the specific body area to be studied, patient simulators can range from simple static models to highly technical models which can be fully automated—delivering a baby with differing configurations. For instance, students and teachers no longer have to wait to observe a real-life heart attack; instead, a clinical can be simulated asynchronously to match academic coursework, precisely by textbook, chapter, page, and class period.

The lab was built in cooperation with Education Management Solutions (EMS), a pioneer in simulation-based solutions for healthcare training environments, and²  Gaumard, a Florida-based entity providing simulation resources and innovative products for classrooms and training solutions toward safer patient outcomes.³

“One of the most important aspects of healthcare learning is the hands-on component,” says Burke Malin, Gurnick Academy of Medical Arts’ Chief Operating Officer. “Over the past years, we’ve been enhancing lab environments and other simulation tools to augment the overall curriculum in multiple programs. Giving our programs an ability to simulate use across different programs and coordinating the education to look and feel like the realities experienced in a dynamic hospital or outpatient environment is critical to preparing all our students for real-life healthcare environments. Our nursing labs are a real focal point of this strategy.”

“With the continued rising demand for skilled nurses, we feel obligated to provide our students with realistic patient care scenarios to fully equip future nurses for their careers in the healthcare profession,” says Najibullah ‘AJ’ Sare, Fresno campus director. “Gurnick Academy of Medical Arts’ main focus is to ensure that we educate safe practicing professionals to support the population.”

“[This] will open the door for collaboration with other interdisciplinary team members,” said Shelvia Salvano, the school’s Simulation Manager and BSN Assistant Program Director for the Concord Campus. “It will allow the students to learn how to communicate and collaborate with allied health members.”

Samantha Manlosa Sanchez, Fresno Campus’s dean of nursing, agrees. “The Simulation Learning Center opens the door to community partnerships, multidisciplinary teams collaboration, and an affirmation of the academic institution’s mission of delivering high-quality instructions in nursing and allied health programs.” 

The administration is sure the skills lab will take students and staff to the next level. Gurnick Academy of Medical Arts invites you to the Simulation Learning Center Open House. Festivities include a Ribbon Cutting, Leadership Presentation, Virtual Campus Tour, Simulation Center Tour, Virtually Simulated Birthing Exhibit, Q&A, and more.

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Written by Cindy R Chamberlin, SEO & Content Specialist

Citations

¹ “About HealthySimulation.com.” HealthySimulation.com. WaterWell, LLC. February 6, 2015. (Accessed May 3, 2021). 
² “Who We Are.” EMS.com. Education Management Solutions. (Accessed May 3, 2021). 
³ “Gaumard | Simulators for Health Care Education | Patient Simulators, Task Trainers, Scenarios, AV Systems, and More.” Gaumard.com. Gaumard. 2020. (Accessed May 3, 2021).