Help us build a Neurological Emergency Simulation
This program aims to improve response time and patient care during neurological emergency situations
About this program
When it comes to medical emergencies, every second counts.
This is especially the case for neurological emergencies involving stroke, seizures and intracranial hypertension, where immediate response and treatment is essential to preventing long-term brain damage and disability.
The USC Department of Neurology is seeking to fund a program that will create real-time neurological emergency simulations for our medical students and residents at the Keck School of Medicine of USC.
These simulations will be held in a setting modeled after patient care areas and equipped with real-time minute-by-minute vitals, patient actors, and other healthcare providers including emergency medicine physicians, neurologists, pharmacists and nurses.
Why this matters
Traditionally, medical students learn through repetitive clinical experiences.
However, the luxury of practice is not feasible in a real life emergency.
Our proposed simulations will offer our students the most realistic hands-on experience possible, at no patient risk.
This simulated environment allows for learning and re-learning to occur, as often as required for students to correct mistakes and fine-tune their skills. There will also be simulated examples or scenarios of rare or unusual cases that are often hard to come by in the clinical setting. The simulated scenarios can give students and inexperienced junior doctors realistic exposure to such cases.
These simulations also provide training and practice with other members of the medical team. During emergencies, multiple disciplines (pharmacy, nursing, Emergency Medicine, Neurocritical Care) come together in an integrated fashion to learn how to manage the patient. This environment will allow our students to exercise their teamwork skills and communication techniques.
With the development and implementation of this program, we hope to equip our students and residents with the training and experience they need to make live-saving decisions.
How you can help
Emergency simulations are rapidly being incorporated into medical education field, but they come at a cost. In order to launch our program, we are seeking support from our community to cover the costs to set up and maintain our simulation. Our goal is to raise $50,000.
Your generosity will directly cover the expenses needed to fund this program including:
- Rental costs for simulation facility and equipment
- Consultation with a simulation specialist
- Compensation of patient actors
- Educational materials
- Miscellaneous equipment
Beyond this program, we are striving to set the gold standard for how patients are treated during neurological emergencies, not only here at Keck Medicine of USC, but around the world. You can play a critical role in creating that standard. Make a difference by giving online today!
For questions, please contact:
Christopher Sickels
christopher.sickels@med.usc.edu
(323) 442–2684
Tammi Scott-Lynch
tammi.scott-lynch@med.usc.edu
(213) 821-7078