A mobile training lab is traveling to hospitals and clinics around the D.C. area to offer a refresher course for physicians working in intensive care units during the coronavirus pandemic.
“If the surge hits, we’ve got a whole team of physicians ready to go into the ICU if needed,” said Dr. John Yosaitis, an anesthesiologist and director of MedStar’s Mobile ICU Bootcamp.
MedStar Health has 10 hospitals in the region with hundreds of health care facilities, and many of the doctors and nurses who do not normally work in the ICU may have to step up and do so.
The mobile training lab will offer the necessary skills for working in the ICU throughout the pandemic.
“We’re training them up on some of the new technologies that they may not have seen 20 years ago, 15 years ago, when they were residents in the ICU,” Yosaitis said.
The 40-foot mobile truck has two simulation rooms with special mannequins, which provide training such as working with ventilators.
This type of training helps prepare physicians from different specialties to prepare for new roles, like for working in the ICU.
Health
“I'm an anesthesiologist and I feel like I have a duty to help my colleagues that may be under stress in the ICU,” said Dr. Steve Luck.
