East Tennessee State University has invested $500,000 in establishing a simulation center with a Medical Education Technology Incorporated (METI) Human Patient Simulator (HPS). Approximately $100,000 per year is spent by our institution for maintenance of this center. Our residents have an opportunity to spend a significant amount of time in the simulation center and face diagnoses with which they might not otherwise have the opportunity to familiarize themselves. 

Additionally, an excellent team of inventors at ETSU continues to develop a vaginal surgery simulator so that the residents will have opportunities to practice skills involved in performing surgical procedures in a confined space in a laboratory setting. A urethral sling procedure trainer and a birthing simulator are also available to help train residents.

Various abstracts, posters and presentations have been conducted regarding our simulation program. Here are a few:

• Brooke Foulk, Howard Herrell, Martin Olsen, Martin Eason, Bill Hemphill. Presented poster: A Novel Pelvic Simulator for Gynecologic Surgery 2008 Appalachian Research Forum, April 2008
• Howard Herrell, Brooke Foulk, Martin Eason. Poster: A Web-Based Electronic Fetal Monitoring Tutorial, Appalachian Student Research Forum, Johnson City, TN, April 2008
• Howard Herrell. Poster: High-Fidelity Simulation as an Adjunct to Physician Impairment Training, APGO/CREOG Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL, March 2008
• Brooke Foulk, Howard Herrell, Martin Olsen, Martin Eason, Bill Hemphill. Poster: A Novel Pelvic Simulator for Gynecologic Surgery, Society for Simulation in Medicine, San Diego, CA on simulation at the Society for Simulation in Healthcare 2008 Conference, January 2008
• Howard Herrell, Brooke Foulk, Martin Eason. Abstract: A Web-Based Fetal Monitoring Tutorial, Society for Simulation in Medicine, Sand Diego, CA, January 2008
• Foulk Brooke. Surgical simulation of cold knife conization and suction dilation and curettage procedures using a patient simulator and papaya model. APGO/CREOG Annual Meeting, Salt Lake City, UT March 7-10, 2007.
• Eason Martin, Olsen Martin, Linville David. Creating and Presenting Simulations for OB/GYN Residency Training Programs.  2006 Human Patient Simulation Network (HSPN) Meeting, Tampa, FL Feb 28- Mar 3 2006.
• Linville M David, Eason Martin P, Olsen Martin E.  Introducing a Pilot OB/GYN Residency Simulation Program.  2006 International Meeting on Medical Simulation, San Diego, CA. January 14-17, 2006

A fetal monitoring teaching web site developed by the department is located at http://www.ob-efm.com  and an ultrasound teaching web site is under development.

Our surgical education program includes an ETSU designed surgical simulation unit. These simulation devices (for which patent applications have been submitted) have been used in the simulation lab to instruct the residents in the management of surgical crises. Future growth in the devices will allow the department to assess the competency of a resident in both vaginal and abdominal surgery. Cameras mounted on the resident’s head as well as cameras mounted within the simulation device will record surgical technique and permit subsequent review by residents and faculty. Competency can be assessed not only in vaginal hysterectomy but assessment of complications such as bladder injury or hemorrhage may also take place. This simulation device has a simulated blood supply. The pressure of the blood supply is equivalent to that of the blood pressure in a human being such that knot integrity can be assessed. In 2008, contracts have been signed for production of this surgical simulation as well as a book of simulation scenarios.