World’s best ‘practice’
Queensland is now home to the biggest and most modern clinical health skills development centre in the world.
Queensland has set a new benchmark for patient safety with the opening of the $13 million Queensland Health Skills Development Centre on the campus of the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital.
CEO Phil Diver likens the new Centre to a flight simulator for pilots and says it allows doctors, nurses and others to undertake intensive training exercises that don’t risk harm, pain or inconvenience to patients.
“In the same way that a flight simulator helps teach pilots to fly, we teach surgeons how to operate and medical teams how to respond to emergencies,” he said.
The Centre features state-of-the-art virtual reality simulators and manikins that can replicate a wide range of clinical situations in a highly realistic fashion. The most advanced is Harry (pictured with Phil Diver), a $400 000 computerised manikin with ‘life-like’ responses to critical situations such as a heart attack or drug overdose.
The Centre also features Australia’s first endo-vascular trainer to enable vascular surgeons, cardiologists and interventional radiologists to practice catherisation, cartoid stenting and angioplasty.
Integrated training of medical teams and communications training are also offered.
“Seventy per cent of litigation in the medical field is directly related to poor communication so a big emphasis here is on developing communication skills to help improve the bedside manner of our Queensland Health staff,” Phil said.
“Communications scenarios may involve actors playing a patient or a family member while clinicians practice situations such as taking a medical history, obtaining informed consent for a procedure, performing sensitive medical examinations or breaking bad news to patients or family members.”
The Centre is covered with 53 cameras able to record different angles and focal points of training, allowing trainees to take away a DVD of their performance.
Phil Diver is yet another example of the Queensland brain-gain phenomenon. Previously Director of Specialist Services for a healthcare venture capital and consulting company in London, he was attracted to Australia by the exciting developments in medical technology and by the sub-tropical lifestyle.
“I just love the smell of barbecues when I go for a run at night. It’s heaven,” Phil said.
Last reviewed 19 January 2006