1. Education

Anesthesiology Simulation Lab

Over the past two decades, the simulation team in the Department of Anesthesiology Perioperative, and Pain Medicine has developed and conducted innovative simulation-based education and assessment programs through the Human Emulation, Education, and Evaluation Lab for Patient Safety and Professional Study (HELPS) Center. At the HELPS Center, our team leads multidisciplinary educational activities for Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai students and postgraduate trainees. The extensive curriculum includes basic science physiology laboratories, anesthesiology, internal medicine, pediatrics, emergency medicine, critical care, and otolaryngology.

Medical students spend time at the HELPS Center to learn how to program, operate, and educate using human simulators. Students develop their own curricula and help teach during existing simulator-based sessions. Our residents in the Clinical Educator Track also engage with the HELPS Center to learn how to create simulator-based educational programs for medical students, residents, and physicians engaged in. In this capacity, residents independently organize and conduct large portions of the medical student education program.

We have also developed and conducted courses for critical care nurse practitioners and graduate students, as well as hosted a variety of community-based services for local elementary, middle, and high school students.

In addition to education, the program has developed novel simulator-based clinical competency assessment, remediation evaluations, and retraining programs for licensed physicians and others seeking to regain licensure. Our team has authored book chapters, textbooks, and peer-reviewed publications on the use of simulation in these efforts.

In 2009, the HELPS Center gained American Society of Anesthesiologists accreditation as an officially endorsed Simulation Program. This allows the HELPS Center to offer and conduct simulation-based educational activities for anesthesiologists seeking Maintenance of Certification by The American Board of Anesthesiology. The HELPS Center has become one of the busiest sites nationally used for this purpose.