Clinical Simulation Center

A donation of medical supplies from Cougar Health Services is helping veterinary students prepare for their first live-animal surgeries.

1–2 p.m. Friday, September 16

Students training at WSU to be veterinarians participate in the college’s Simulation-Based Education (SBE), the first and only veterinary simulation program fully accredited by the global Society for Simulation in Healthcare.

The first day at WSU’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital prepares fourth‑year veterinary students for clinical rotations by throwing them into simulated scenarios with stuffed patients and seasoned actors as clients.

When the WSU’s Doctor of Veterinary Medicine class of 2019 was thinking about how they wanted to give back, the choice seemed obvious: The Clinical Simulation Center .

The College of Veterinary Medicine has become the first in the nation with an accredited simulation training program developed for and devoted to veterinary care.

In the WSU Clinical Simulation Center, veterinary students use medical models and sophisticated equipment, like the endoscope, to practice their diagnostic and treatment skills before they work with live patients.

In a large room filled with a half dozen tables, groups of students are following what might appear to be sewing instructions with stich names such as “cruciate” and “simple interrupted.” At the top of the sheet it reads: Practice Made Perfect. For the WSU veterinary students who are actually learning basic surgical suturing skills, this kind of practice gives them the confidence they need to perform surgeries later in the program.