The Paris Simulation Center is located in the heart of the Health Sciences Center (HSC) at the University of Louisville. The HSC contains the School of Medicine, which operates the Center, as well as the dental, nursing, and public health schools. The HSC also contains University Hospital, Norton's hospitals, and several other healthcare facilities. The Paris Simulation Center offers support to all of these organizations. Some of the current educational content we provide is as follows: 

School of Medicine

• Basic Life Support (BLS)
• Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) Certification
• Introduction to Clinical Medicine (ICM)
• Medical Physiology Cases
• Gross Anatomy Virtual Material
• Pediatrics Clerkship Cases
• Obstetrics/Gynecology (OB/GYN) Clerkship Cases
• General Medicine Sessions
• Ultrasound Education Sessions
• Surgery Clerkship Sessions
• Neurology Clerkship Sessions

Graduate Medical Education (GME)

• Anesthesia - resident orientation, selected topics and electives
• Surgery - resident orientation, FLS/FES/FUSE Testing
• Pediatrics - resident training
• Emergency Medicine - resident training
• Internal Medicine training
• Airway Management

University of Louisville Hospital

• Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS)
• Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS)
• Nursing Orientation
• Respiratory Therapy
• Dietitian Feeding Tube Placement Training
• Colonoscopy, Bronchoscopy, and Endoscopy Training

Outside Activities

• Norton Children's Hospital - Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) training
• Norton Audubon Hospital - Respiratory Therapy (RT) training
• Stop the Bleed- offered to University employees as well as the public

Medical Students

The primary purpose of the Paris Simulation Center is to support instruction at the School of Medicine (SOM). We use the patient simulators throughout the entire four year curriculum of the medical students, as well as several residency programs. The simulators are used to teach basic science concepts to first and second year students in physiology, biochemistry, and pharmacology. Clinical skills are taught throughout the curriculum, during the first two years as part of the Introduction to Clinical Medicine (ICM) courses, and during the clerkships in the third and fourth years.

The physiology sessions are integrated into the general physiology lecture series. The class is divided into groups of about nine students each. Each group works in the simulation lab with two faculty members, a clinician and a physiologist. The students are presented with a clinical case, and together they work through the progression of the clinical scenario. One example is the effects of the Frank-Starling mechanism on cardiac performance, coupled with cardiac output measurements. Different treatments are attempted, and the students determine how they affect the performance of the heart during the scenario.
The two-year Introduction to Clinical Medicine (ICM) course uses the simulators for a variety of small group teaching sessions.

Additional Activities

Several programs are using the Paris Simulation Center to teach practicing clinical personnel (doctors and nurses). University Hospital is teaching ACLS (Advanced Cardiac Life Support) and PALS (Pediatric Advanced Life Support), Trauma Nurse Casualty Course (TNCC), and advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) using the patient simulators as an integral part of the teaching experience.

Several of the local hospitals have used the Center to train nursing and respiratory therapy staff. Also, we have taken out portable manikins "on the road" to support disaster drills throughout the region.

Reservation Form 

To reserve a space in our lab, please complete the following form. If you have any questions about the form, please email Ryanne Noel-Luttrell at rnnoel01@louisville.edu

Reservation Form