Education & Research

Yale School of Medicine is home to the largest medical student curriculum of its kind in the country.

In the course of four years, Yale Medical Students participate in over forty simulation scenarios.

• All incoming Yale medical students have their first opportunity to participate in a simulated patient encounter at YCHS in their first week of medical school, through their Introduction to the Profession course.
• Prior to starting their clinical clerkship year, all MD students are trained in: foley catheter placement, nasogastric intubation, and bag-valve mask ventilation at YCHS.

• Students in the YSM Emergency Medicine Sub-Internship participate in an EM-based simulation curriculum at YCHS.
• A two-to-four week simulation elective is available to interested fourth and fifth-year medical students. This elective allows students to create and program simulation cases on the SimMan3G programming software, have the opportunity to serve as a participant, actor, or the voice of the simulated patient for other medical student simulations, and have guided practice on procedures related to their chosen specialty. During the Medical Education elective, PGY4/5's also have the opportunity to create and run simulated cases and to learn and practice debriefing.
• During students’ final course, Capstone, they have the opportunity to participate in a simulation that provides the experience of being the only intern on the floor while taking care of patients on an overnight rotation—before starting residency in a few months.
• Motivated students also have the opportunity to participate in a number of ongoing research projects under the mentorship of YCHS faculty. Projects result in publication-quality manuscripts and are encouraged for submission to local, regional, or national meetings.
• Students learn a wide range of invasive procedures from insertion of IVs, nasogastric tubes and urinary catheters, to more advanced procedures such as central venous catheter insertion, chest tube insertion, and difficult airway management. Bedside ultrasound simulators assist students in developing technical skills as well as learning how to interpret point-of-care ultrasounds. Partial task trainers allow the acquisition of these technical skills prior to entering the clinical setting thus increasing patient safety.

The Center is a safe space for learning, where mistakes can be a learning tool.

Simulation faculty play a key role in evaluating resident milestones across various Yale residency programs, working closely with program directors. Additional educational opportunities include the "Resident as Teacher" curriculum, where senior medicine residents engage in scenario design, execution, and debriefing as part of their elective. Faculty also provide individualized support for residents seeking to address skill gaps, offering supervised procedures and scenario-based remediation to enhance training.