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Emory University School of Medicine
Emory University School of Medicine
Department of Anesthesiology

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Department of Anesthesiology

Human Patient Simulation Center

Located within our suite and for the sole use of our students, our state-of-the-art high-fidelity Human Patient Simulator offers our trainees the highest quality experiential learning available.

Our approach to simulation education

Simulation at Emory is designed around evidence-based educational principles. New material is connected to what students already know, creating durable learning through meaningful associations rather than isolated memorization. Our scenarios are intentionally challenging. Research shows that productive difficulty during learning leads to stronger long-term retention than easily mastered material.

Every simulation session begins with preparation. Students receive a patient case in advance, develop a complete anesthetic plan, and submit it to their faculty instructor before arriving at the lab. The pre-brief is where students defend their clinical reasoning, identify potential complications and establish the cognitive framework for the scenario they're about to manage. This ensures that time at the mannequin is spent practicing decision-making rather than absorbing information for the first time.

Throughout the curriculum, we emphasize pattern recognition and transferable clinical heuristics over rote memorization. When a student learns to recognize a physiologic pattern in one clinical context and can apply that same recognition across multiple different scenarios, they've developed a skill that will serve them throughout their career.

First year simulation curriculum Our simulation curriculum is thoughtfully designed to provide students with a solid foundation in clinical knowledge and skills. Through immersive, hands-on experiences, students will engage in realistic simulations throughout the first three semesters of the program.

The first-year simulation curriculum spans three semesters and builds progressively from foundational skills to complex case management. Each semester introduces new clinical challenges layered on top of the competencies developed in the previous term. By the end of the first year, students have individually managed a wide range of anesthetic scenarios and performed hands-on procedural skills under direct faculty supervision.

Semester 1 Conducting basic anesthetic

Students learn the fundamentals: induction, airway management, maintenance and emergence. Sessions focus on building a reliable, repeatable workflow for managing an uncomplicated general anesthetic from start to finish. The emphasis is on establishing safe habits and developing fluency with the anesthesia machine, monitors and drug administration before complexity is introduced.

Semester 2 Managing complications

With a solid baseline established, students advance to managing anesthetics complicated by common intraoperative events. Scenarios introduce airway complications including bronchospasm and laryngospasm, as well as hemodynamic challenges such as hypotension, hypertension and blood loss requiring fluid resuscitation and vasopressor management. Students learn to recognize, diagnose and treat while maintaining the anesthetic.

Semester 3 Procedural skills aquisition

The third semester shifts toward hands-on procedure-based training. Students practice arterial line placement, central venous catheter insertion, neuraxial anesthesia techniques including spinal and epidural and ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia. These sessions use dedicated task trainers alongside the high-fidelity simulator, building technical proficiency in procedures they will perform during clinical rotations.

Second-year simulation curriculum Critical events and transition to practice

Second-year simulation shifts in both content and purpose. While students are attending clinical training full time in the second year, they return to the simulation center for sessions focused on critical events and uncommon but high-stakes clinical scenarios, situations they may not encounter during routine clinical training but must be prepared to manage.

Equally important, the second year introduces communication and precepting experiences that are essential for the transition into clinical practice. Senior students participate in scenarios that develop their ability to articulate clinical reasoning, communicate effectively with the anesthesia care team and begin developing the skills needed to function as a trusted member of the OR from day one of their career.

Assessment and feedback

Every simulation session is video recorded and made available for student review along with faculty comments. Faculty assessment includes both structured rubric-based evaluation and real-time annotations captured during the scenario, noting decision points, communication and clinical reasoning as they happen, not just in retrospect.

The goal of simulation assessment is not to look for perfection. We expect students to make mistakes. The simulation center exists as a safe environment where errors become learning opportunities rather than patient safety events. Each session provides a dual assessment: faculty evaluate student performance while students develop their own self-assessment skills by reviewing their recorded scenarios against the feedback provided. This combination of external evaluation and reflective self-assessment builds the metacognitive awareness that distinguishes a competent clinician from an excellent one.

Simulation technology and equipment

Our center utilizes multiple modalities of simulation to match the learning objective to the right tool. The centerpiece of our lab is the Elevate Health Human Patient Simulator (HPS), a high-fidelity mannequin with full physiological modeling that responds in real time to the drugs, ventilator settings and interventions the student provides. This is supported by a library of procedure-specific task trainers for skills including vascular access, neuraxial techniques and ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia, as well as standard anesthesia equipment including functioning anesthesia machines, patient monitors and arterial line transducers.

All simulation sessions are captured through our video management system, enabling the recorded review and annotated feedback described above.

Simulation with anesthesiology residents

Our simulation program provides AA students the opportunity to train alongside anesthesiology residents from the Emory School of Medicine in joint simulation sessions. These sessions place students in simulated OR emergency scenarios working side-by-side with the physicians who will be their supervising anesthesiologists in clinical practice. The experience builds teamwork, communication under pressure and an understanding of how the anesthesia care team functions when it matters most, preparing both groups for the collaborative working relationship that defines the profession.

Workshops and visiting experts

Throughout the year, the simulation center hosts objective-driven workshops and specialty training sessions featuring both program faculty and visiting content experts. These sessions provide focused instruction in areas such as advanced regional anesthesia techniques, and are designed to supplement the core simulation curriculum with exposure to specialized skills and emerging practices in anesthesia care.

Overview of Simulation Watch as our simulation director takes you through an overview of our simulation program, the spaces, and some of the simulation resources available at the Emory AA Program.

Watch Overview
Overview of Simulation

Simulation in action See a sample scenario created by the Emory AA simulation team demonstrating basic skills in managing an anesthetic case from induction through emergence.

Watch Sample Scenario
Simulation in action