Mobile Patient Simulators

In 2010, the University of Kentucky Area Health Education Center (AHEC) received stimulus grant funding for the Mobile Patient Simulator project. This Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)-funded project’s primary goal is to promote health career professions to middle school, high school and college-age students by providing opportunities for participants to interact with “life-like” medical simulators.

The simulators are used to support and enhance our statewide approach to increase the number of representatives of underserved and underrepresented economic, racial/ethnic and geographic groups within the health careers workforce.  Strategically located throughout the state, the three cutaway step vans are each equipped with a METIman pre-hospital simulator and video conference capabilities which are intended to provide real time response to clinical treatment.

Two of the Mobile Patient Simulator units will be assigned to the regional AHEC centers serving the east and west side of the state, and one will be assigned to UK’s campus for use by the Central AHEC office as well as UK’s health professions colleges.