For generations, much of medical education relied upon the apprenticeship model and the idea of “see one, do one, teach one.” Errors were accepted and often expected. Physicians gained skills by practicing on patients, often in an unsupervised and unstructured setting. This approach is no longer acceptable and much focus is now placed on patient safety, reducing hospital-based errors, and improving patient outcomes. Over the last 20 years, medical simulation has evolved as an interactive, effective, and exciting new education modality and it has become a standard component of medical training for providers in all disciplines and specialties. Using a wide array of resources, including technologically-advanced robots and procedure trainers, medical professionals can now learn and practice without risks to themselves or their patients. This session will introduce the incredibly exciting and innovative field of medical simulation.
Dr. Andrew Eyre grew up in Wayland and is an Emergency Physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Andrew serves as the medical director for the STRATUS Center for Medical Simulation, a world-renowned simulation center at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He is an award-winning medical educator, researcher and writer who has held a number of different leadership roles at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. After attending Williams College, Andrew obtained his MD from the University of Vermont College of Medicine prior to completing his Emergency Medicine training at the Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency at Brigham and Women’s and Massachusetts General Hospitals.