Facility Description

The Center for Medical Education & Innovation is a 20,000 square foot state-of-the-art medical education and training facility located on the fourth floor of the McConnell Heart Hospital at Riverside Methodist. It allows multidisciplinary training of medical professionals along the full continuum of care, from paramedics and emergency technicians to residents, nurses and attending physicians.

In addition, the CME+I educates healthcare providers in disaster preparedness by training them in the treatment of mass casualty, natural disaster and chemical, biological and radiological casualties.

Virtual Care Unit™

The Center’s Virtual Care Unit (VCU) includes four adult patient simulators, one pediatric version and one of the first infant patient simulators in the world. Each patient simulator can be programmed to react in very human ways, with more than 72,000 combinations of physiologic responses.

• Participants interact with the simulated patients in settings that include an intensive care unit, emergency room, operating room, trauma suite and patient room. They are trained for a variety of medical scenarios.
• Simulators transmit the clinicians' actions to a central control room to be reviewed and analyzed for enhanced learning opportunities and improved patient safety.

Laboratory Skills Center

The Laboratory Skills Center consists of a:

• Microvascular lab for practicing suturing techniques, tendon reattachments and other procedures related to the minute circulatory system.
• Laparoscopy lab for practicing minimally invasive surgical techniques using the same instruments found in an operating room.
• Minimally invasive catheterization lab for practicing delicate, catheter-based procedures, such as balloon angioplasties and stent placements.
• Two patient exam rooms where healthcare professionals can work with actors to practice communication and interpersonal skills.
• Clinical skills lab for practicing procedures, such as IV insertions, airway management, pelvic exams and suturing without involving an actual patient.

The Laboratory Skills Center enables medical professionals to practice and sharpen skills in patient care using artificial models of the human body. They receive instruction for a wide range of clinical procedures, from IV insertion, suturing and airway management to microvascular and laparoscopic techniques.

Through educational interactions in the patient examination rooms, they experience interpersonal components of the provider-patient relationship by interacting with actors. They are observed or recorded from outside the exam room for feedback and evaluation.

Conference Learning Suite

The Conference Learning Suite is home to one main conference hall with seating for more than 150 people, two smaller conference rooms and a Distance Learning Suite, all with multimedia, video conferencing and distance learning capabilities. This area of the Center supports not only Riverside conferences but also has the ability to transmit/receive teleconferences between other locations within the OhioHealth care system and throughout the world.