Education & Research

• 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.

• PGY-1 residents spend two weeks in the morning during their simulation ultrasound rotation
• PGY-2, PGY-3, and PGY-4 residents spend two full weeks in YCHS.
• Most PGY-4 residents chose to spend an additional two-to-four weeks in the Center as an elective

During each rotation, core simulation faculty create daily schedules for residents, which include:

• Formative ACGME milestone assessment
• Post-graduate year-specific case participation
• Medical student teaching
• Procedural training
• Simulation case creation and programming
• Debriefing course and debriefing practice
• Difficult obstetric deliveries
• Mini-courses in ventilation management, sepsis, toxicology, ophthalmology, and general emergency management

EM residents spend additional time at YCHS learning suturing, airway management, central venous catheter insertion, and other emergency procedural training. The simulation faculty participate in the Education/Simulation area of concentration (AOC) and present topics on adult learning theory, simulation scenario creation, and lead an all-day SimWars.

YCHS is available to all YNHH residents. Simulation faculty also participate in resident milestone evaluations for various Yale residency programs in conjunction with their program directors. Additional educational opportunities for YNHH residents include a “Resident as Teacher” curriculum: senior medicine residents learn and practice scenario creation, execution, and debriefing during this elective. Faculty are available to work one-on-one with residents who perceive deficiencies and will run scenarios or supervise procedures to remediate these deficits in training.