"On the third floor of the Murphy Building in downtown New Orleans, eight patients await medical attention. Two are in obstetrics, just about to undergo difficult deliveries. There's the guy in OR being prepped for anesthesia and another in the ER with suspected cardiac arrest. Various infants and children are scattered about in examining rooms.

Then there are the pieces and parts - medical students sew up a disembodied arm here, start an IV on another arm there, diagnose "Mr. Hurt Head" under his scary-bad wig and learn ultrasound on a life-sized torso. And 42 web-linked video cameras watch it all happen.

Welcome to the latest educational environment for medical students, residents and staff at hospitals throughout the region. A new $3 million, 14,000-square-foot Tulane Center for Advanced Medical Simulation and Team Training dedicated in January is the site where "learn by doing" meets "first do no harm".

The high-tech initiative, which uses 14 high-fidelity, life-sized robotic patients and other devices to emulate an entire hospital, also promises significant improvements for patient safety through the use of proven training techniques


"The center will help Tulane achieve goals in quality and safety, not just for Tulane but for health care locally, regionally and nationally" - Dr. Jim Korndorffer

Clockwise from left: Fourth-year resident Dr. John Jin, Associate Medical Director of the Tulane Sim Center Dr. Paul Primeaux and fourth-year medical students Natacha Telusca and Jaqueline Magne simulate cardiac procedures in the center's OR