Keesler Medical Center Simulation Lab used for essential training

Doctors in training at Keesler Medical Center are getting real life experience through the simulation lab.

The medical center at Keesler has three residencies, internal medicine, dental, and surgical. The simulation lab on site, also known as the Sim Lab, is an essential tool that is used to train medical personnel in important skills they will need.

The sim lab mannequins provide medical personal with realistic emergency scenarios with life-like features, including the multiple amputation trainer, MATT for short. Medical Simulation Lab Coordinator Randy Bernhardt said, “It’s a high-fidelity mannequin where we can make him bleed, squirm and move around and really kind of give some realistic, as realistic as you can get anyways, off the battlefield type of training for our military medics.”

Emergency Services Head Coordinator Timothy Parade said, “We do about 3,500 student hours a month, we’re quite busy, but we cover everything you can imagine in medical simulation including surgery, De Vinci which is robotic surgery.”

The De Vinci Robotic Surgery is for general surgeons and is a five-year program.