Health Care in the Real World

With the unveiling of its new $6.1 million Health Technologies Center, Cuyahoga Community College is offering students authentic experience and the opportunity to practice medical skills before leaving school. It’s one reason Tri-C students will be truly ready to provide...

By: Ken McEntee
Date: 03/12/2008
Something seemed amiss.

There I was in an examination room, surrounded by patients, monitors and all the other high-tech hospital stuff—yet nobody was asking for my insurance information.

Then I remembered where I was.

The new Health Technologies Center labs, located on the Cuyahoga Community College Western Campus, are so true-to-life it was easy to forget I wasn’t in an actual hospital.

That’s the whole idea.

“We want to give our students the feeling of being in a real hospital environment,” explains Sandy L. Robinson, Associate Dean, Health Careers/Science. “We worked with the architects who designed the Cleveland Clinic Heart Center, so they really had the background on how a hospital should look and feel.”

The new $6.1 million, 25,000-square foot, Health Technologies Center opened in January and includes four classrooms, six cutting-edge labs, two standardized patient suites and human patient simulators. These “faux patients” actually respond to treatment—and mistreatment. Give them the wrong medication and they’ll react just like a human would. Well, almost. You won’t hear them cry out in pain, but they could go into cardiac arrest or experience respiratory failure. And the student has to react accordingly.

Tri-C is one of the few schools to feature the simulated patients and clinical labs. “By having experience in the simulated clinical setting, our students will be better prepared as they enter the health profession,” Sandy says. “They’ll feel like they’ve already been on the job and it will give them a step up for their future careers. This takes Tri-C to an outstanding new level.”

The six new labs are designed for students in seven of Tri-C’s renowned health career programs:

Diagnostic Medical Sonography–ultrasound training acquiring, evaluating and correlating ultrasound images.

Electroneurodiagnostic Technology–the testing of electrical activity in the brain and nervous system. Tri-C’s program is one of only 14 in the country, and the only one in Ohio to be accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Education Programs.

Nuclear Medicine–imaging procedures that use radiation-detecting devices.

Polysomnography–the study of sleep. Tri-C’s program is the first of its kind to be offered in Ohio.

Physician Assistant–a collaborative master’s degree program with Cleveland State University. Tri-C has been educating Physician Assistants for over 30 years.

Radiography–take x-rays of the human body for use in diagnosing medical conditions.

Respiratory Care–a program which assesses  and treats patients with breathing disorders.

Other programs that will utilize the new lab space include Emergency Medical Technology, Nursing, Medical Assisting and Veterinary Technology.

“This is the first time the Nuclear Medicine program has had its own lab,” says David Frazee, Nuclear Medicine Program Manager at Tri-C. “This puts our students light years ahead of others. There are only a handful of schools in the country that have this type of environment.”

The Simulation Lab–a simulated emergency room, featuring the computerized patient simulators—is used in all the health care programs. Observing students from behind a large window, instructors use PCs to control the human simulators, which show heart rhythms, pulses, blood pressure and other human vital signs.

“The primary focus of the new Health Technologies Center is to prepare our students and make them competent and ready for their profession,” Sandy says. “We also plan to open up the labs to enhance our continuing education program in health care.”

The new Health Technologies Center has been in the planning stages since 2001, when the school used labs renovated from classrooms. The bulk of the project was paid for by a grant from the State of Ohio with additional funding coming from private donations.

“Dr. Jerry Sue Thornton, President of Tri-C, understood the importance of the health care field, especially in Northeast Ohio,” Sandy says. “This project was inspired by her vision. We worked with the various program managers and their advisory committees, the faculty and the students, to make sure all of their needs were met through this project. We had the full support of the college, the campus presidents and the board of trustees. Dr. Patricia Rowell, President of the Western Campus, is extremely excited about the educational opportunities this center will create.”

The project broke ground in September 2006 and opened for classes in January.
Some of the equipment used in the labs was donated from area hospitals and other medical facilities.

“Equipment is very expensive, so the donations were a great help,” Sandy says. “It allows us to give our students hands-on experience with the best equipment that we otherwise would not be able to afford.”

The Health Technologies Center also features a simulated doctor’s office and a hospital exam room where students can practice interacting with patients on videotape.

“We will soon begin using standardized patients—actors who pose as patients—to help students perfect their interpersonal skills,” she explains. “This is an educational tool used in medical schools, but it is not at all common at community colleges.”

On Friday, April 4, Tri-C will hold a public grand opening celebration to officially open the Health Technologies Center, with public tours available after noon.

Tri-C, which opened in 1963, serves more than 55,000 credit and non-credit students each year at its three campuses, two Corporate College locations, more than 50 off-campus sites and through distance learning options. As the largest community college in Ohio, Tri-C offers more than 1,000 credit courses in more than 70 career, certificate and university transfer programs.

The college’s Western Campus is located at 11000 Pleasant Valley Road, at York Road, in Parma. Call the campus at (216) 987-5000 for enrollment information.

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