Creating a world-class healthcare facility in Tampa Bay.
Leading research on how the power of genetics can help tailor treatments to specific individuals.
Caring for the whole patient – and helping when a chronic disease affects the entire family.
The best of USF Health was showcased Thursday morning on Front Row Tampa Bay, a live webstream presented by the Tampa Bay Partnership to promote Tampa Bay during the Republican National Convention.
The buzz in Tampa is all about USF Health’s Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation, host Kathy Fountain told Dr. Stephen Klasko, CEO of USF Health and dean of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine.
“It is the buzz,” Dr. Klasko said. “Tampa Bay is becoming where tomorrow’s health care happens today – and we’re leading the revolution.”
In just the three months since CAMLS first opened, Dr. Klasko said, it has brought 7,000 extra hotel room nights to Tampa Bay.
“It’s a huge, huge crown jewel for Tampa Bay,” Fountain said.
Key to CAMLS’ success is the work headed by Dr. Laura Haubner, medical director of the CAMLS Virtual Patient Care Center, said Dr. Klasko.
“The real excitement is what Laura does in getting doctors and nurses to work together,” he said.
Dr. Haubner appeared on Front Row with Dr. Klasko. Part of the reason CAMLS works so well, she told Fountain, is because it’s so realistic. The operating rooms are fully functional; all the equipment is real.
“They start to suspend disbelief,” she said of learners.
In Dr. Haubner’s care center, students and health professionals working on their skills may interact with realistic mannequins, such as distressed newborns that can cry and turn blue, or with actors who are patients.
“When you really see a lot of errors in medicine is when the communication breaks down,” she said.
Learners work together at CAMLS and review video of themselves to see what they did well – and where things went wrong. They practice having difficult conversations with patients, including telling patients that they have made a mistake and delivering bad news to patients.
On the first floor, CAMLS has 39 surgical stations, allowing health professionals to improve their technical skills – and have them assessed.
It’s past time that surgeons undergo the same tests of technical competence as other fields, Dr. Klasko said. A private pilot, Dr. Klasko noted that his flying skills are tested annually – but his surgical abilities haven’t been checked since 1984.
Earlier Thursday morning, Front Row Tampa Bay spotlighted USF Health’s care for people with diabetes or with Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Henry Rodriguez, clinical director of the USF Diabetes Center, and Dr. Amanda Smith, medical director of the USF Health Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute, appeared on the show together.
Both areas are places where USF Health focuses on caring for all the patients’ needs, including the needs set by caregivers.
“We are trying to do all these things under one roof, and I think we’re doing it well,” Dr. Smith said.
At the new Byrd Center for Memory C.A.R.E., patients can receive clinical care, but also meet with Alzheimer’s educators, social workers and other health professionals.
At the Diabetes Center, Dr. Rodriguez pointed out that patients can receive a full spectrum of care and also can participate in clinical research trials, a key advantage of academic medicine.
“Clinical research is critical to moving diabetes forward,” he said.
– Photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Communications
