When Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center opened the new medical education building for its School of Medicine in Wake Forest Innovation Quarter this summer, the Bowman Gray Center for Medical Education came with the latest innovations in technology and design.
The opening coincided with Wake Forest School of Medicine introducing one of the most advanced medical school curricula in the country which allows medical students to prepare for real-life experiences in the most modern of settings: from outpatient clinic to trauma center bay, complete with the new informatics and technologies used in patient care today.
But it was missing a key teaching tool that the estimated $60 million facility cost could not cover.
Located on the fourth floor of the Bowman Gray Center, the Center for Experiential Learning houses a resuscitation suite, an operating and surgical /procedures suite and an intensive care suite.
Here technologically-advanced manikins simulate real- life reactions and symptoms to train students to react as if they were attending real patients. While the students could train on adult and infant manikins, the School of Medicine could not afford pediatric manikins.
That’s where “Petey-Atrix”, “Simone” and a donor who has chosen to remain anonymous come into the picture.
During the Bowman Gray Center’s Opening Day Tour at the new facility, the donor learned of the need and wanted to make a difference in the medical education of future pediatric physicians. Thanks to this donor’s $80,000 donation, the School of Medicine was recently able to buy two pediatric manikins.
“Students practice the unique skills needed to deliver patient-centered care on the manikins before they ever see their first patient, resulting in improved health outcomes for the patients they will eventually serve,” said Mary Claire O'Brien, M.D., associate dean for Academic Affairs at Wake Forest School of Medicine. “Having pediatric manikins to add to the training continuum will only help improve those outcomes, and we’re grateful for the generosity of this donor to make that possible.”
The donation included prize money for a naming contest so the medical students could decide how best to address the newest manikin- patient additions to the experiential learning curriculum.
Cameron Oswalt, of the M.D. program, took home the top prize for his name suggestion, ”Petey-Atrix.” Anna Olsen, with the P.A. program, won the other top prize for her name of “Simone” for the other pediatric manikin.
Prizes were also awarded to students who submitted names that came in second and third place.
The School of Medicine’s experiential learning curriculum focuses on safety and quality and prepares graduates to recognize system error, advocate for system improvement, and be stewards of safe, high-quality, and high-value, patient-centered care.
Media Relations
Mac Ingraham: mingraha@wakehealth.edu, 336-716-3487
Joe McCloskey: jmcclosk@wakehealth.edu, 336-716-1273