Below is a transcript of our conversation with Dr. Stevn Vance, Associate Dean of Clinical Education
David Nicholas:
I'm David Nicholas and this is Central Focus, a weekly look at research activity and innovative work from Central Michigan University students and faculty.
From day one, CMU's College of Medicine is focused on rural health by expanding services and increasing access. Dr. Steven Vance is the Associate Dean of Clinical Education. CMU has received a $1 million grant to fund the development of a mobile health simulator, taking the training to the healthcare providers serving rural Michigan. Dr. Vance sat down with me to talk about the startup and potential for simulation-based medical training.
What does this target specifically? A need, I'm guessing, that we're starting from scratch or adding on to in terms of our abilities and access.
Steven Vance:
One of the areas that we at the College of Medicine have a substantial history in and expertise is around simulation-based education. And so, since 2008, we've been using medical simulators, human patient simulators, standardized patients, various modalities to provide training to our medical students, our residents. and those in the communities that we serve. One of the barriers, however, for rural communities is the distance and the cost related to those trainings. We know it's a better way to train. We're able to immerse providers in high morbidity, low frequency situations that need to be rehearsed in a team fashion and team response capabilities need to be looked at. Healthcare systems need to be looked at because that's where the majority of medical error occurs. And so what's ideal is that we can bring those rural workforce members to Saginaw, to Mount Pleasant, to conduct that training. This grant will allow us to build effectively a mobile simulation center that will be able to take to the communities and conduct the training directly in the health systems that serve the rural patients.
DN:
You mentioned a couple of different target areas. Is there one or two that are seen as maybe the most critical need where the training is very important, where there needs to be ongoing or updated training, and we just haven't been able to get to folks, now we can.
SV:
Yeah, there's two real targets for this current project. One is providing this type of education to those that are serving veterans. And so, Congresswoman McDonald Rivet really wanted to prioritize our nation's veterans as an opportunity for these funds to improve care that they receive, particularly in rural areas. And so, we're going to be working closely with the VA CBOCs, the community-based outpatient centers, as well as the hospitals that serve veterans in those rural areas. It'll focus around procedural access, maternal health care, which is a real need right now. We have huge maternity deserts in this state, as well as opportunities for training around mental health, behavioral health, and again, emergency preparedness as it relates to critical medical emergencies.
DN:
Is there any area concentrated with a VA population that you specifically want to be able to access?
SV:
Really the footprint for this project extends pretty much east of I-75 all the way up to the tip of the northern lower to the lower peninsula and then out into the thumb. And so if you look at for our current VA region that is where most of those community-based practices are. And many of the veterans are getting their hospital-based care in areas of the thumb that are served by Aspire Health and McLaren and others. And so we've partnered with those health systems that have been very receptive to this.
DN:
Do we have any of the equipment that you've noted in talking about how this will be done? Do we have any of that in-house?
SV:
Yeah, this will be new equipment that is acquired by virtue of this grant. And so, the grant is for $1,000,000 that allow us to purchase simulators, medical equipment to outfit the mobile simulation vehicle. In addition, this is sort of a unique partnership on this project. We not only have the great work that's been done by our governmental affairs team, Toby Roth, Megan Morris, in connecting us with Congresswoman McDonald Revet, but also philanthropy locally. And so, the McDonald Auto Group contributed a substantial sum of money to actually purchase the chassis and the vehicle and the engine and so on and so forth, which is actually not allowable through the grant.
DN:
Dr. Steven Vance, thank you so much for taking the time to Run down the details for us and good luck as the program gets underway. It starts ramping up and the training gets provided.
SV:
Thank you, Dave. Thank you for having us today.
