Madigan's Simulation Center Is First In DoD To Earn Accreditation, USA

Main Category: Medical Students / Training
Article Date: 04 Jan 2008 - 1:00 PDT

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Madigan Army Medical Center's use of simulation technology has received national recognition. The Charles A. Andersen Simulation Center is the first educational institution in the Department of Defense to be accredited by the American College of Surgeons - and only 21 other health care education facilities in the U.S. have this distinction.

This three-year accreditation designates the Andersen Simulation Center as a Comprehensive Level 1 Center of Surgical Education Excellence. The simulation campus for the accreditation also includes the Medical Simulation Training Center at Fort Lewis.

The Andersen Simulation Center supports Madigan's graduate medical education program and the training of hundreds of nurses and medics throughout the Western Region. Since its opening in 2002, more than 17,000 medics, nurses and doctors-in-training from the Army, Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard have used the center to hone their medical skills.

The center also has professional agreements with several local colleges and universities, to include the Institute for Surgical and Interventional Simulation at the University of Washington, that extend the training opportunities to medical and nursing students in Washington State.

Additionally, the simulation center has received numerous accolades for its recent development and deployment of a Mobile Obstetric Simulator, a device used to practice routine and emergency infant deliveries. The device earned Madigan a DOD Patient Safety Award.

Madigan Army Medical Center