Re-engineering medical simulation training for the next generation of physicians

Expand the system, expand the skills   

Based on their technology, the researchers have been granted two patents, with three patents pending and more in development. In 2018, Miller and Moore co-founded Medulate, a start-up company aimed at increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of medical education by commercializing the Penn State-generated intellectual property around medical simulation.  

Since founding the company, they have continued to develop and assess novel medical training simulators that provide validated patient benefits. Miller was approached by doctors at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in California interested in integrating the central line training in their residency program after noticing the same preventable errors that the simulator targets among their trainees. Over the last five years, Cedars-Sinai has implemented the new resident training program, demonstrating its scalability and application beyond Penn State. 

Now, the team is working to broaden the impact of the training system to include experience with sterile technique and error prevention and recovery. With the use of artificial intelligence, the system can monitor sensitivities such as the sterility of the surgical field — the area surrounding the site of the procedure.

“Ultimately, we need to scale. We need to get this out there to the broader medical community — we have the opportunity to impact so many lives in a positive way,” Miller said.  

This is just the beginning for Miller and Moore. The team’s research and training program is expanding to include colonoscopies, using augmented and virtual reality simulation. They recently received $1.7 million from the National Institutes of Health to develop, deploy and assess a colonoscopy training system. 

“If colon cancer is caught early, there’s a much better patient prognosis,” Miller said, noting that 15 million colonoscopies are performed each year in the United States. “But research shows that it takes completing the procedure 200 times for a physician to become proficient. In residency training, physicians are only required to complete 50 colonoscopies. We’re trying to reduce that learning curve so that every clinician doesn’t need to practice — and potentially miss early cancer signs — on 150 patients.” 

With the medical simulation training program, medical students, residents and other practitioners can practice these delicate procedures countless times in a risk-free environment. Their trainees enter the medical field confident in the procedures, and, more importantly, more experienced, resulting in better patient outcomes. 

“Historically, there’s been a gap between education and clinical practice — and we’re closing it,” Miller said. “In terms of clinical significance, we can show that we are saving lives.”