Robotic manikins, mouths agape, stare blankly at the ceiling from their beds at the Yale Center for Medical Simulation. If visitors look beyond the strange expressions, they might also notice the manikins breathing and blinking. And as Leigh Evans, M.D., the center’s director, explained, the manikins can do much more--they're equipped for students to insert catheters, perform thoracotomies, and even deliver babies.
The list is enough to prompt one alumna to whisper, "They're alive."
On May 29, 2015, as part of the annual reunion, School of Medicine alumni joined the center’s staff for tours of the new lab, which opened in January. Swooping wood paneling and an inviting half-moon seating area greeted the alumni while they awaited their guides, the first of which was Evans. Trailing after her down the hall, Liz Gawron, M.D. '75, glimpsed a few of the manikins in their beds. "Look in the room! Did you see their faces?" she exclaimed to Paul Johnson, M.D. '75.
In her opening presentation, Evans quoted a phrase commonly attributed to Ben Franklin: "Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I may remember. Involve me and I learn." The simulation center gives students the opportunity to hone their clinical skills and teamwork in a risk-free setting. After listing a few common physical procedures that interns are often asked to perform, Evans wryly noted, "I don't know about you, but I learned all of that when the floor nurse called me over." The comment earned a few chuckles around the room.
For the tour itself, alumni divided into two groups. One followed James Bonz, M.D., into the procedural simulation room, crowding around full-body manikins as well as arms, heads, and pelvic sections available for procedures like inserting urinary catheters or performing ultrasounds. After encouragement from the alumni, the staff used “Sim-Mom” to demonstrate the birthing simulation, where the manikin delivers Sim-Baby—accompanied by a muffled recording of screams. The atmosphere was one of intense interest, perhaps tinged with skepticism.
In the second half of the tour, Evans gave the alumni a closer look at a functional manikin operated from behind a two-way mirror. "Can I feel his pulse?" asked May Woo Wang, M.D. '60, approaching the bedside. The question set off a chain reaction as other curious alumni reached for the manikin's wrists, neck, and feet to see for themselves.
Still, some alumni remained concerned. "Does it subtract from time with real patients?" asked Donald Moore, M.D. '80. "Do you foresee simulation taking over clinical time?" But Evans didn't share his worries. "I think this is helpful," she answered, "but it will never replace the real thing." After a pause, she added, "I wish I'd had it."
"Yeah. Me, too," replied Moore.