Highly specialized training for rural hospitals in Colorado: Training is investment in health care training and patient safety

A training initiative from the University of Colorado Hospital (UCH) and Colorado Division of Labor and Employment (CDLE) will provide customized, no-cost medical training to Colorado’s rural health care providers. The initiative, made possible by CDLE funds, will offer highly sophisticated simulation training using technology from the WELLS Center located on the Anschutz Medical Campus and operated by UCH. The training will be available solely to 29 Critical Access Hospitals in rural Colorado.

The WELLS Center provides education and training for health care workers using life-sized mannequins, otherwise known as human patient simulators. The center has the ability to recreate real-life situations and demonstrate alternate ways of reacting to improve outcomes and hospital safety. The “patients” can be programmed to simulate a wide variety of scenarios that test both clinical and critical-thinking skills. Each patient simulator breathes, has a pulse, heart and lung sounds, and responds to appropriate stimuli. The mannequins can be programmed for almost any clinical situation including child birth, heart attacks and head injuries.

Rural hospitals in Colorado treat high-risk patients but health care workers may not see those patients very often. The WELLS Center will provide four hours of training at no-cost to workers in rural hospitals to prepare for low-volume, high-risk events without exposing any patients to risk. The center can provide training at its facility on the Anschutz Medical Campus. WELLS Center staff also can provide on-site training focusing on interaction and communication at the hospital as well as that particular hospital’s processes and systems.

For more information on this training program, contact Heidi Miller, Business Specialist at the WELLS Center, 720-848-5444 or via email at Heidi.miller@uch.edu.