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WVU Alumni Association announces 2024 Homecoming and Alumni Service Award honorees

Wednesday, October 09, 2024

The West Virginia University Alumni Association will celebrate recipients of the 2024 Homecoming and Alumni Service Awards during Homecoming Weekend, Oct. 18-20, recognizing the accomplishments of alumni around the world and honoring their service, commitment and loyalty to their alma mater.

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STEPS 15th Anniversary radio spot - September 27, 2024

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Shauna Johnson: At West Virginia University, mountaineers go first. Now marking its 15th year at the WVU Health Sciences Center, the David and JoAnn Shaw Center for Simulation Training and Education for Patient Safety, also known as STEPS. Medical director, Dr. Dorian Williams has been with the site one of the most comprehensive simulation learning environments in the country since its conception.

Dorian Williams: Our environment allows our learners to practice in a safe environment. They can practice their skills without fear of making mistakes. They can do it over and over, learn from their mistakes, practice till they feel competent and capable. It makes it safer for the patients, better for the patients.

Shauna Johnson: More than 30,000 learners from all disciplines at all levels participate in STEPS simulations each year live, remotely, or virtually working in the 20,000 square feet of space in some cases with standardized patients, real people portraying difficult health scenarios.

Dorian Williams: We've got mannequins that are full-body mannequins that are super high fidelity. They breathe in oxygen, they breathe up carbon dioxide. They're physiologically responsive to medications for very complicated simulations. We have surgical trainers of all different types. We have robot... practice robotic surgery far beyond our first blueprints. 17, 18 years ago were just a couple of exam rooms with mannequins. We've just grown so much.

Shauna Johnson: STEPS is one of only a small number of sites worldwide accredited by the Society for Simulation in Healthcare, in teaching assessment, research, and systems integration. Take a virtual tour of STEPS online at www.steps.wvu.edu.

Dorian Williams: At the very core, we're here for patient safety. It's in our name, it's in our mission, it's in our vision. Everything we do revolves around safety of the patient. STEPS would not exist if it wasn't for the learners embracing this type of education. The donors and former grads of the university helping us exist because this type of training is really expensive and seeing the outcomes as our learners go through the health system and mature into practicing clinicians, there's nothing more gratifying than that.

Shauna Johnson: So let's go. Follow our stories at wvutoday.wvu.edu.

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