Centralized Skills Laboratory

An important part of the training to be a doctor is developing clinical skills, which includes performing and practicing key procedures. While these procedures cannot be performed by ‘novice’ students on real patients on ethical grounds, the availability of a clinical skills laboratory allows students a ‘protected’ environment to practice these skills on mannequins and simulators.

MGIMS set a centralized skills laboratory in August 2012 under the Medical Education Unit. Sessions in the skills lab are scheduled into the main timetable. The lab has mannequins and simulators which provides students opportunities to hone their skills in basic and advanced life support in both adults and children. Students can learn and practice procedures such as suturing, venesection, catheterization and laparoscopy under supervision. In addition the lab has childbirth simulators, ECG simulators, heart sound simulators and several other models pertaining to different medical and surgical specialities. The room has seating space, blackboard and an LCD projector to conduct classes in small groups. The arrangement in the form of cubicles also allows the area to be used as stations in objective structured clinical examinations (OSCE).

In 2014, a workshop on simulation was conducted by national experts in the field. The anesthetist team of Dr Vijay Sharma and Dr Dhiraj Bhandari who have been trainers in advanced life support regularly conduct classes for students in performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation.