CVT students among elite group learning with VIST Simulator

Edison State students learn to remove blockages and insert stents in the arteries surrounding the heart in the college’s hi-tech simulator. COURTESY PHOTO Threading a needle through arteries surrounding a heart, working to clear a blockage and successfully seeing a patient through recovery — in health emergencies, experience matters.

Cardiovascular Technology Professor Jeff Davis brings cutting edge technology to Edison State students to provide “simulated” realworld experience before his students enter a hospital.

“Simulator training adds significant value to what we teach our students in the classroom,” said Professor Davis. “They will definitely make positive impressions in hospital and cath lab settings because of this training.”

Edison State is one of only three colleges in the country to have a VIST Simulator allowing students to practice such sophisticated and delicate procedures as removing blockages and inserting stents in the arteries surrounding the heart. The machine allows for simulated procedures in the heart, brain and other major organs.

“Many medical schools don’t have this type of technology. We’re really working with the future of our field,” said Professor Davis. “Until now, all techs and many doctors never performed real-time procedures until seeing their first patient in a hospital.”

What does this mean for CVT students and graduates?

“Future employers know Edison State students will bring an advanced level of training to the job,” he said. “This high-tech simulator teaches anyone learning — from a first-year student to an attending physician — to gain real world exposure to routine and sophisticated procedures.”

The user can perform simulated procedures on a mannequin-type simulator in the areas of interventional radiology, interventional cardiology and vascular surgery. The Cardiovascular Technology program purchased the unit from Mentice Inc. this summer placing the program as a leading center for technology and enabling students to acquire real procedural hours outside of a hospital setting.

ESC and Mentice Inc. have forged a relationship that will allow the two entities to work on multiple and mutually beneficial projects to further advance the use of simulation in technical college programs throughout the country.

“Jeff started with a solid curriculum and added simulator training to elevate his lessons,” said Tim Shannon, Mentice Inc. president. “The outstanding ESC curriculum and experience with the machine will help guide solutions as to what is needed for tech programs and colleges with similar objectives.”

For more information about the CVT Program or the VIST Simulator, contact Jeff Davis at Edison State College, 489- 9430. 