San Diego

Naval Medical Center San Diego's Newly Expanded Bioskills and Simulation Training Center

 The Naval Medical Center San Diego unveiled its newly expanded Bioskills and Simulation Training Center (BSTC) Monday, featuring a state-of-the-art new training facility.

This new state of the art training facility will help Naval Medical Center staff members, but it will also help train corpsman who deploy and perform lifesaving surgeries, sometimes on the battlefield.

We're going to give every one of our individuals our doctors nurses and corpsman every tool and piece of equipment that they can to be successful whether it is on the battle field or whether it is here in the wards or in the operating room,” said Commander Cory Gaconnet, physician and Deputy Director of the Bio-skills and Simulation Training Center.

Staff there says the new technology, placed in a dedicated space at the hospital, will improve how corpsman, doctors, and nurses are able to saves lives and treat patients.

At the new center, there is a simulated procedure station, where doctors can practice a variety of surgeries. Medical teams can also improve their skills in simulated operating rooms.

β€œOne of the things that helped him the most going down range was to be able to work as a team in the simulation center and also in our bioskills lab and so he had lived the scenarios ahead of time,” said Joe Acosta, Commanding Officer Naval Medical Center San Diego.

Health professionals can work to improve their skills by watching what they are doing through a screen and in some cases, use a touchscreen to choose to perform a variety of surgical procedures.
Audio and visual technology will help give medical personnel a better picture of how treatment methods are working using a mock patient.

β€œSimulation and bio-skills is the future in medicine,” Acosta said. β€œNow we will be able to improve our teamwork medicine today is a lot more complicated than it used to be and so exposing people sometimes for the first time to new technology is some of the things we will be able to do here before going into the real life scenario.”

Until now, the Naval Medical Center did not have a dedicated area for corpsman, doctors and nurses to train using the latest technology.

Officials cut the red ribbon at the center Monday.

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