Orlando-based Army Agency Lands $5 Million Medical Simulation Contract
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
By: Nicole Creston

May 10, 2011 | WMFE - The Orlando-based training and simulation agency for the United States Army has received a $5 million dollar contract to partner with the U-S Department of Veterans Affairs in medical simulation.

Lieutenant Colonel Wilson Ariza is with the Army Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation, or PEO-STRI in Orlando. He explains what PEO-STRI does.

“We provide simulation-based medical education to all medical personnel, primarily to prepare those soldiers, sailors and marines going in theatre so they can be prepared for medical emergencies.”

Ariza says medical simulations are teaching tools used in a risk-free and supportive environment that mimic real-world situations, so medical personnel will know what to do when faced with actual patients.

“These devices are similar in concept to flight simulators used by the airline industry to train pilots,” says Ariza. “There are truly a wide array of simulation methods, including mannequin human-patient simulators, task trainers and others.”   

The contract with the VA will enhance and expand medical simulation training in VA hospitals nationwide. It will also make Orlando’s VA hospital the hub for the acquisition and evolution of medical simulation technology with a special medical simulation center. Orlando’s VA hospital is set to open in August 2012.

Ariza says the contract is a boon for Orlando. “I do believe that our multidisciplinary simulation center can truly collaborate with other institutions in the military and the civilian sector – in this case, the VA – to further improve patient care quality and safety for all.”