FM JANUARY 2019 - digital edition

medical students and doctors before
they try their hands-on real patients,
was billed as the only such facility in
South East Asia when it was launched
six years ago.
“This facility was started when none
in this part of the world even thought
of having such a comprehensive human
patient simulation lab,” claims Dr
N.Sippy, Associate Professor, DY Patil
University.
A 5,000 sq ft lab is equipped with
high-fidelity mannequins covering most
of the medical specialities , a debriefing
room and a conference room.
“We are now expanding this lab to
a 15,000 sq. ft. facility with the latest
technologies in simulator platforms,
including augmented and mixed reality
studios — again, for first time in India,”
Sippy said.
As part of this innovation, it has
already launched the Microsoft HoloLens
module with CAE just two months
ago. With this, it wants to enhance the
training with the latest technologies
that can interfere in medical simulation,
especially in areas like ultrasound and
gynec procedures among others.
The Beginning
“Since we didn’t have any models
in India to follow, we took time
to understand and analyse the
requirement,” Dr Sippy quipped.
For this lab, mannequins were
supplied by UK’s CAE, one of the best
providers of high-fidelity mannequins
for human patient simulation. Such
mannequins are not available in
India and are imported for the lab,
as there are only three companies
worldwide that have the expertise to
manufacture them.CAE develops end
to end spectrum of simulation solutions
that includes patient ,interventional &
imaging simulation.
“Though the Indian regulatory
system typically mandates the very
minimum modules or programmes,
we wanted to introduce full- fledged
simulation infrastructure and invested
heavily on these high-end mannequins,”
Dr Sippy added.
“We have so far trained at least
25,000 consultants from various
In a medical
simulation lab, it is
not the investment
that is important,
though it is highly
capital intensive. The
most critical aspect
is the utilisation and
training efficiency.
Dr Vijay Patil
President
DY Patil University
86 / FUTURE MEDICINE / JANUARY 2019