Mangaluru (TOI)The Medical Council of India (MCI) has already recognized the importance of simulation and it is mandatory now for every medical school to get a clinical skill centre, said Dinker R Pai, clinical health simulation educator, Jurong Health, Singapore and founding member of Pan Asia Simulation Society in Healthcare.
Dr Pai was delivering a talk after the inauguration of Father Muller Simulation and Skills Centre at Father Muller Medical College here on Sunday. "Medical education has undergone a paradigm shift now from a teacher focused curriculum to learner focused patient centered curriculum. Medical education has progressed in India with regular revision of the curriculum. The question as to why do we need simulation now is an argument. We have to understand that the milieu, patients, environment and technology are different now. We have to learn to go with the times. Learning now has changed from the traditional classroom based learning to experiential learning, where students learn by doing and not just by reading," he said.
"Application of knowledge is what we are trying to achieve rather than learning facts for the sake of learning facts. For this, we have now three different terms that are being used as far as medical education is concerned - in vivo training, in vitro training and now we have in silico training, where we use silicon models. There have been many misconceptions regard to simulations. It should be our endeavor in India not only to have the high tech simulators, but also to develop low cost solutions which we can apply on a larger scale," Pai said.
Explaining the significance of simulation, he said, the technique of teaching medicine plays significant role when it comes to the safety of patients. "In India, for a long time, simulation was questioned. Question will be why something artificial when there are many patients here already. This particular argument no longer holds any water because patients' safety is paramount today. Simulation is probably the most important modality which helps the parameter of patients' safety. Similarly, patients are now increasingly becoming aware of their rights. In simulation, students can practice on the simulator and get a certain level of skill before dealing with real patients. Further, it is not really ethical for us to treat patients as guinea pigs and therefore simulation becomes very important. However, we can't throw out all the traditional methods of teaching too," he added.
Dr Manju Singh, joint secretary, UGC, inaugurated the centre while Bishop of Shimoga Most Rev Francis Serrao blessed the occasion.
