A project, dubbed the Center for Medical Education and Innovation, uses six patient simulators--four adults, one child and a newborn--manufactured by Medical Education Technologies Inc., Sarasota, Fla., for medical training. The virtual patients, which cost about $185,000 each, mimic the human body, with heartbeats, reactive eyes and chests that rise and fall as they breathe. The mannequins--"Don't call them dummies," says Lou Oberndorf, CEO of METI--are programmed with 70,000 responses, including adverse reactions to medications, cardiac arrests and convulsions.

Resources

These Web sites are starting points to consider patient simulation.

• Duke University--comprehensive simulation resources: http://simcenter.duhs.duke.edu/ websites.html
• Laerdal SimMan: www.laerdal.com/simman/simman.htm
• Medical Education Technologies Inc.: www.medi.com
• University of Colorado Center for Human Simulation: www.uchsc.edu/sm/chs/research/surgsim.html
• The Visible Human Project: www.visiblehuman.org
• Virtual Human Program: www.ornl.gov/virtualhuman