Iowa Simulation Center for Patient Safety and Clinical Skills
Improving patient safety and outcomes in our global community through healthcare simulation education and preparing diverse groups of highly competent, compassionate, and culturally responsive health professionals.
Giving students exceptional opportunities
The Iowa Simulation Center for Patient Safety and Clinical Skills at Des Moines University allows students and residents to experience clinical scenarios, learn procedures and hone evidence-based practices in diagnostics, work-up and treatment – before they treat actual patients.
The state-of-the-art facility – encompassing the Simulation Laboratory, Surgery Skills Lab, Basic Life Support Laboratory and Standardized Performance Assessment Laboratory – allows students to develop and improve their diagnostic and clinical skills and patient care abilities using cutting-edge technology and trained simulated patients, all with the supervision and guidance of our exceptional faculty and medical professionals. Video and audio recordings captured in the Simulation Center at DMU are used for educational purposes. Those purposes include, but are not limited to skill development, feedback, SP training, or facilitated group discussion.
Training our students throughout all levels of their education
The simulation center is used for training DMU students in the osteopathic, podiatric, physician assistant and physical therapy programs. The exposure to immersive simulated medical scenarios reinforces what they are learning in the classroom and other labs and better prepares them for clinical practice. Additionally, the Simulation Center stresses the importance of communication skills, leadership, teamwork and interprofessional training.
The Iowa Simulation Center is part of our commitment to experiential learning opportunities.
HELP SHAPE THE NEXT GENERATION OF HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS
Standardized patients (SPs) play a critical role in the education of future health care professionals. They enable DMU students to gain and improve clinical and professional skills before they interact with “real” patients.
Meet Your Faculty and Staff
We are committed to training competent, passionate professionals. Our expert faculty make DMU a powerful place to learn.
“At the time, no center in the U.S. had performed an adult DCD heart transplant. I built the surgical recovery protocol for this program and worked directly with the Organ Procurement Organization regarding logistics for this type of recovery, and did outreach to other OPOs to educate them about DCD heart recovery and donor management. It was truly surreal to be at the forefront of something that will have a huge impact on heart transplantation worldwide, and to see all the hard work we’ve put in for months come to fruition in such a remarkable way.”
Stephen DeVries, PA-C'12
Stephen is one of two physician assistants in the country credentialed by the Association of Organ Procurement Organizations Credentials Information Network (ACIN), which qualifies him to procure hearts and lungs independent of physician supervision.