The Faculty of Medicine of the University of Ostrava Opens a New Simulation Centre

Although there are no patients in the hospital, it is equipped with beds and the latest medical technology. We are talking about a new training hospital worth more than a quarter of a billion CZK which was inaugurated today by the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Ostrava. The modern Simulation Centre will prepare both future doctors and medical students.

Receiving an emergency call, treating an injured biker, taking blood samples, stitching a wound, complicated childbirth or saving a patient overdosed on drugs. From mid-October, both medics and paramedics will be able to train both mundane and more complex procedures in the new Simulation Centre of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Ostrava, which resembles a real hospital with its equipment. “The Simulation Centre will offer our students completely new learning opportunities. By its opening, we will join the ranks of modern medical faculties in Europe and the world, which improves the quality of practical teaching and provides opportunities for repeated practice of various procedures. The training hospital will serve medical students, students of other medical courses as well as experienced doctors. It will enable them to transfer the theory they have studied into practice in a very efficient way and avoid mistakes in patient care due to the lack of experience in performing a certain procedure” explains the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Ostrava, Rastislav Maďar.

A two-store building resembling a real hospital in its equipment, which is not missing even an emergency room, an intensive care unit with modern equipment, an operating room or a delivery room. On the other hand, it lacks patients. These will be replaced by state-of-the-art simulators. “Thanks to the state-of-the-art patient simulators and cutting-edge IT technology, we can simulate situations that students will face in real practice. Teaching in a mock hospital will give them a greater sense of confidence in their future practice,” says Ivona Závacká, Vice-Dean for Studies and Lifelong Learning and project guarantor. According to her, the centre can pre-program many various situations that students will have to deal with. “We have prepared a myriad of simulation scenarios so that students get to know different patient conditions, including those that are not so common in hospitals. Sometimes though, the goal will be just to get them to learn to work together, communicate well, or gauge their own strengths. The more time they spend learning in Simulation Centre, the better prepared they will be for the actual practice,” explains the Vice-Dean Ivona Závacká and adds that the opening of the Simulation Centre was preceded by more than three years of intensive work: “From the reconstruction of the building itself, through the purchase of all the equipment, to the completion of dozens of training courses, including the testing of audiovisual equipment, simulators and instrumentation.”

Part of the training hospital will be used by future paramedics. Students of this field will be the first in the Czech Republic to have their own operations centre, where they will learn to receive emergency calls. A small training apartment, a rappelling area and, last but not least, a model ambulance that will help them prepare for all kinds of situations they will encounter in real practice. This will also help with training in transport conditions. In terms of appearance and equipment, the model of the ambulance is practically no different from the real one. Similarly to the modern operating theatre, where medics will try out a wide range of surgical and laparoscopic operations for a change. In addition, they will also practice their surgical skills in microsurgery on state-of-the-art operating microscopes. The Faculty of Medicine has also purchased new eye equipment, including the state-of-the-art ophthalmic virtual reality simulator for training in intraocular surgery.

However, future physiotherapists will also learn in the training hospital. Three modern, fully equipped gyms with rehabilitation beds, instrumentation and REDCORD suspension systems will help them prepare for real practice. The hospital practice room will be appreciated by students of general nursing. Thanks to the full-body patient simulator, they will be able to try out a wide range of tasks before entering the hospital – from common ones such as positioning to more demanding ones such as caring for patients with tracheostomy or catheterization. Students of pediatric nursing and obstetrics will also have their own teaching stations. In fact, the Simulation Centre is a true replica of a delivery room with a state-of-the-art delivery simulator. Within the framework of the project of the training hospital, the Faculty of Medicine has also purchased new plastinates for its students, which will allow them to study the human body to the tiniest detail.

“Almost all the rooms are equipped with camera and sound scanners, through which the supervisors can watch the students during their rehearsals. The video recordings obtained will be used to analyze the correctness of the steps taken during the procedure or treatment. That is why we have two debriefing rooms in the Simulation Centre,” explains Peter Ihnát, Director of the Simulation Centre of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ostrava.

The construction of the new Simulation Centre cost more than a quarter of a billion CZK and was almost one hundred percent covered by the European funds. The faculty also saved a significant part of the funds thanks to the fact that the centre was not built on a greenfield site, but by rebuilding the former dean's office.

The construction of the new training hospital was also supported by the city of Ostrava, which financed the project documentation worth almost one and a half million CZK and also purchased equipment worth eight hundred thousand CZK for the Simulation Centre. “We have been supporting education for a long time, it is very important for the city. This exceptional project of our Faculty of Medicine will allow students to try out procedures in practice at often critical moments and to acquire the necessary habits already while studying. Teaching has shifted from the purely theoretical to the practical and I am very pleased that this opportunity for practical learning is available to the students of our Faculty of Medicine and doctors in Ostrava. I would also like to thank everyone who participated in the preparation of this unusual project,” concluded Tomáš Macura, Mayor of the Statutory City of Ostrava.

Updated: 17. 10. 2022