ANN ARBOR—University of Michigan researchers will create a clinical simulation center to train first responders and medical personnel for unique disaster situations.

The center—funded by a one-year, $421,589 federal grant monitored by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)—is intended to prepare emergency responders to handle unique disaster occurrences, such as those involving weapons of mass destruction or a terrorist attack.

In collaboration with the U-M Medical School and Media Union’s 3-D Lab, the grant will utilize the lab’s Virtual Reality CAVE—a high-resolution, computer-generated, synthesized audio-visual environment—to develop virtual disaster scenarios for training emergency room and first responder personnel. Simulating chaos of emergency scenarios will provide a powerful training tool for learning and practicing the decisions and skills required in handling disasters.

Dr. James Woolliscroft, executive associate dean in the U-M Medical School, said many disaster preparedness and emergency response grants have emphasized teaching through Web sites and seminars. U-M’s grant, however, will aim for improved skills and better communication because emergency personnel will be active participants in the virtual disaster scenarios, he said.

"If we can help these personnel with decision-making and communications, that would be a big plus in saving lives," Woolliscroft said.

The 3-D Lab officials won’t need to start from scratch to create the virtual program. Klaus-Peter Beier, director of the Media Union 3-D Lab, which features the CAVE, said they will use their experience from simulating an emergency incorporating the lab’s Medical Readiness Trainer, which was developed to teach emergency personnel in a combined virtual and real environment. One feasibility study, "Disaster Scenario," tested the CAVE’s capabilities for the virtual simulation of chaotic environments. This study involved a bomb explosion, changing the virtual scene of a peaceful urban environment to one of chaos with a destroyed office building and neighborhood.

Researchers will analyze the U-M center’s results in six months and evaluate the program after its first year. The work could evolve into a curriculum for medical students and residents, Woolliscroft said.

U-M is one of 12 universities nationwide creating specialty centers, which provide health professionals with information and training to support preparedness for terrorism and other public health emergencies, said Dr. Christine Rosheim, a health education specialist at the CDC’s Office of Workforce Policy and Planning.

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