Henry Ford Hospital unveils $5M simulation center

The largest health care simulation center in the Midwest, at 12,000 square feet, was unveiled last week at Henry Ford Hospital's New Center campus.

The center will enable doctors, nurses and other health care providers to fine-tune their skills without actually performing surgery. It includes two operating theaters, a $1.6 million da Vinci robot system, six clinical rooms, a minimally invasive procedure lab with more than 30 stations and two classrooms.

The Henry Ford simulation center will work collaboratively with other area centers at Wayne State University, Beaumont, University of Michigan and Michigan State University to share best practices.

The improvement in technology will translate to better patient care for the entire Detroit area, says simulation center director Dr. Craig Reickert. "This is a major recruiting gemstone for stimulating the best and brightest students, residents and faculty to come here to train," he says. "This will improve the quality of care in the community."

Reickert says the center's ability to cognitively train professionals is key. "We can run through difficult medical problems," he says. "For example, if there are multiple medical problems but one acute problem, like a heart attack."  Cognitive training helps health care providers to critically think through such instances and also better communicate solutions to their team. "This has the potential to improve patient care much more directly than learning how to sew and tie knots," he says.

The simulation center was built in the space where the hospital once stored its paper medical records.

Source: Craig Reickert, MD, Henry Ford Hospital
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh
Image courtesy of Henry Ford Hospital