A one year ago, Erbud S.A. started a redevelopment of the old hospital laundry on Medyków St. The prime contractor, on order of the Medical University of Silesia (SUM), is to revamp the building into the Didactics and Medical Simulation Center (DMSC) – the most modern educational facility of its kind in Poland. Today, the interior of the developing Center was shown for the first time.
The Center is predicted to act like a real hospital where students of medicine can practice simulation studies using phantoms and simulators. The two-storey building is divided in two parts – the first one on the ground floor where an IT center (1 420 sq. m.) will be placed and the second floor designed for simulation center (1 210 sq. m.).
“It will be one of the most modern centers in the world and the first one of its kind in Poland. There are two small simulation centers in Warsaw and Poznań but our unit will be ten times bigger and modernly equipped. For example, the DMSC will offer ten simulators what makes the didactics facility exceptional” – said Ewa Małecka-Tandera, Rector of the SUM.
There will be forty different types of phantoms and training anatomy manikins. The ten medical simulation rooms will include, among others: surgery, intensive care room, two hospital rescue rooms, two pediatric rooms and even a simulator of an ambulance and a first-aid chamber. All that has to help to create scenes which can take place during future professional duties of students, make mistakes with no consequences for patients life and analyze it. A multimedia hall will use an information-communication technology (ICT) providing access to medical databases and e-learning.
The construction work on the Center will be concluded in November this year. A great opening of the building is planned for 1st of October 2012. Meanwhile, the interiors have to be equipped with furnitures, IT gears, phantoms and simulators. “This year we are going to send our employees to Tel Aviv for training courses where a similar simulation center already exists. In the future, they will work at the DMSC and will teach students. At present, we issue tenders for purchase of the equipment” – said Przemysław Jałowiecki, Vice-Rector for Clinical Affairs of the SUM.
The Center will be available for students of the departments of medicine, medicine and dentistry, biotechnology, pharmacy. The University predicts that about 1 685 will learn in the new building during the first year of activity. The number will increase to 6 360 by the end of 2017.
The Didactics and Medical Simulation Center will cost PLN 30 million. 85% of the amount will be granted by the European Union, 15% is financed from the state budget.
The Medical University of Silesia is the largest medical school in Poland. It has been established on 20th of March 1948. It consists of five schools: School of Medicine in Katowice (the one that offers education in English language), School of Medicine with the Division of Dentistry in Zabrze, School of Health Care, School of Public Health, and School of Pharmacy with Division of Medical Analytics in Sosnowiec. Currently, the total number of students of the Medical University of Silesia is 6 402. A diploma of the school has been granted to 32 095 alumni.
It employs 716 staff members, including 500 academic teachers (36 Professors, 34 PhDs with habilitation , i.e. post-doctorate degree holders, 312 PhDs, 95 physicians, and 23 faculty members with a master’s degree) . The School operates through its 11 Departments of Basic Sciences and 37 Departments of Clinical Sciences, which include 41 clinics and 19 institutes.*
*source: SUM’s website
