EVANSVILLE - A high-tech simulation center that uses high-fidelity mannequins equipped with sophisticated tools and mechanisms not dreamed of as recently as 10 or 20 years ago and which are capable of responding like real patients will be the centerpiece of the proposed Indiana University School of Medicine — Evansville facility.
The 30,000 square foot center will immerse medical students in computer-simulated surgeries and force them to react to complicated emergency room dramas, said Catherine Zimmermann, director of development and public relations and interim director for medical education and research partners for the IU project in Evansville.
“Although planning is still in progress,” she said, “the vision will include mannequin-based simulations that use high-fidelity simulators, and mannequins that breathe, with breath sounds, heart tones and palpable pulses. In addition, the mannequin has a monitor that can display EKG, pulse oximeter, blood pressure, arterial wave forms, pulmonary artery wave forms, anesthetic gases and more.
“Procedures can be performed on the simulators, such as bag-mask ventilation, intubation, defibrillation, chest tube placement, cricothyrotomy and others,” she added.
Zimmermann said using mannequins in clinical simulations allows future and current physicians to “practice on plastic” first.
The selection of the simulation center for the centerpiece of the new medical school was easy, said Zimmermann, who also has been director for development at IU.
“There was no second choice, for the simulation center is the apex new model of training health care professionals through interprofessional learning,” she said.
The medical school campus, which will be located Downtown in an area bordered by Locust, Cherry, Southeast Fourth and Southeast Sixth streets, will bring together students and programs from IU, the University of Southern Indiana, University of Evansville and Ivy Tech.
The campus is expected to open in the fall of 2017 with an enrollment between 1,500-1,900 students. It will offer as many as 81 residency slots at four area hospitals — Deaconess Health and St. Mary's Health systems, Memorial Hospital and Health Care Center in Jasper, and Good Samaritan Hospital in Vincennes.
“The project has tremendous potential,” said Greg Wathen, president and chief executive officer of the Economic Development Coalition of Southwest Indiana.
“Initially, planners announced it would need a total of 170,000 square feet of space for the campus, and recently it was up to 230,000 square feet of space before the first shovel of dirt has been turned.
“A project of this magnitude, made possible by four competing hospitals and by four competing schools all coming together for the good of the region, just doesn’t happen, but it did ... And, doing it all in one location speaks volumes,” he said.
Steven G. Becker, assistant dean and director of the school project, predicts the unusual collaboration will draw national attention.
But the medical school is projected to have a wide-ranging impact on the Tri-State and region.
Studies show that 78.6 percent of medical students stay in the area where they complete their studies. A Tripp Umbach study of the economic impact on a region is $1.5 million per year for each practicing physician who remains in the area. By the year 2025, the economic impact of the medical school on the region is predicted to be $360 million per year, according to Trip Umbach consultants.
Becker told the Southwestern Indiana Association of Realtors during a recent luncheon meeting that one of those areas impacted will be housing.
Geri Terry, president of the Realtors Association and a broker associate with F.C. Tucker Emge Realtors, said the new school will be “absolutely wonderful for the community for decades to come.”
She said area real estate agents, builders and developers will be ready to handle clients’ housing needs, either by providing new construction on vacant subdivision lots, rehabilitating existing homes or leasing real estate.
Becker also noted that relocating study programs at USI and UE to the new campus will free space at those universities for new uses.
At USI, plans are underway for renovating 26,000 square feet of third-floor space in the Health Professions Center that will become available when some programs leave for the Downtown facility, said Mark Rozewski, USI’s vice president for finance and administration.
He said the space currently is occupied by the IU School of Medicine-Evansville.
Plans include enclosing four balconies, adding 4,000 more square feet to the existing space.
“The proposed use of the space is to expand nursing and health-science-related offerings, which are operating at capacity, and to support and expand other academic programs,” said Rozewski.
Lynn Penland, senior vice president of academic affairs at the UE, said UE’s physical therapy and physician assistance programs will move from Graves Hall to the new facility.
The vacant space will likely be used for academic programs needing more space.
Evansville Regional Airport is also expected to feel the impact of the new school.
Dianne Page, the airport’s director of marketing and air service development, said the passenger load is expected to grow considerably as more students will leave from the airport on spring breaks. She envisions medical convention delegates also needing the transportation, as well as new residents brought here by the school.