An Inside Peek on Orlando Medical News

An Inside Peek

By: LYNNE JETER

Posted: Tuesday, August 9, 2011 12:40 pm

An Inside Peek | Florida Hospital Celebration Health, Nicholson Center for Surgical Advancement, NCSA, Rick Wassel, Florida Hospital, Lynne Jeter.

Florida Hospital’s Nicholson Center for Surgical Advancement Combines 3 Primary Strategies for Training Surgeons Globally

CELEBRATION—The $35 million, 54,000-square-foot Nicholson Center for Surgical Advancement (NCSA) expects to train more than 20,000 surgeons annually in a 3-tiered strategy when the nation’s largest and most comprehensive medical education center of its kind opens this fall.

The first tier involves the “learning” of medicine at the expansive multi-use international conference and education center for up to 500 learners, including convention space and multiple conference rooms built on an HD, multi-campus, fully integrated technology platform that facilitates tele-mentoring and tele-broadcasting both nationally and internationally.

The “science” of medicine, the second tier, will be taught at the clinical and surgical skills lab with 25 contiguous surgical stations, two fully integrated 935-square-foot simulation training and education operating rooms, and a dedicated robotics wet lab, initially equipped with six daVinci robots. Also, an accredited simulation and robotics training center that advances research and development, including computer-based simulation, virtual and augmented reality trainers, surgical simulation, mobile health and several robotic technologies.

The third tier involves the “business” of medicine through the Center for Strategic Innovation, an innovation and technology accelerator focused on accelerating and commercializing new business initiatives with physicians, global medical companies, societies and the military.

Primary programs and services include the following:
Clinical and surgical skills training lab
Multi-specialty robotics training lab
Technology, research and development alliances
Innovation and technology accelerator
Accredited simulation and robotics training center
Fully integrated multi-media conference centers
International symposia, conferences and education programs
Media production and capture services
Live surgical broadcasts, videoconferencing, tele-mentoring and web-based education
Strategic advisory and consulting services

“We wanted to bi-directionally connect three types of ‘classrooms’: wet and dry lab spaces, education spaces, and clinical operating rooms,” said Sherrick “Rick” Wassel, System Administrator of Florida Hospital’s NCSA. “For example, on the education side, we can accommodate up to 500 physicians at any one time. We also have a number of conference/board rooms, including two that have electric observation glass on four walls, each allowing for direct viewing into the clinical skills labs, both operating rooms, and the robotics wet lab. On the wet lab side, we can accommodate a total of 50 independent clinical skill stations, as well as two oversized operating rooms for simulation, robotics and team training.”

By training volume, NCSA currently has the largest multi-specialty robotic training center in the world, said Wassel.

“We have six daVinci robots today and expect to add to that number in the fourth quarter of the year, as well as also add other robotic simulation devices,” he said. “Even though robotics gets a lot of press today—it’s very unique and exciting, leading-edge, high-technology medicine—we host even more courses involving minimally invasive, laparoscopic, single port and natural orifice procedures. The training isn’t necessarily about the technology, but instead about procedures that advance patient safety and clinical outcomes.”

On the second floor, the NCSA will house a separate dry simulation lab, with space to accommodate work that Florida Hospital has planned with the Department of Defense. “We have dollars coming in to hire researchers and acquire equipment for computer-based simulation, surgical simulation and robotic technologies,” he said. “Simulation companies within the Central Florida Research Park, large defense contractors, and the military’s primary program agencies are advancing their intellectual property and technology from military modeling, simulation and training to medical modeling, simulation and training.” Shell space has also been allocated on the second floor to expand capabilities for projected growth in medical simulation and mobile health over the NCSA’s initial 24 to 36 months.

The final space on the second floor will house the innovation and technology accelerator. “Unlike what you may find in a university or academic setting concentrated on pure incubation, our model focuses on acceleration, commercialization and adoption,” explained Wassel. “It will house conference rooms and office space to focus on about two dozen strategic projects at any one time. Those projects will be focused on working with clients and key stakeholders including medical device, biotechnology, life sciences, pharmaceuticals, IT companies, medical societies and associations, the military, hospitals and academic centers globally. We’ll identify projects and assign teams, and those partnering organizations would have access to offices and the full resources of the Nicholson Center for that project specific period of time.”