Keesler lab wins 3 Air Force-level awards 9/27/2012 - KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. (AFNS) -- The 81st Medical Group's Medical Simulation Laboratory earned three Air Force-level achievement awards at the 2012 Air Force Medical Modeling and Simulation workshop held in San Antonio in August. The Keesler medical simulation staff earned the following Air Force first-place honors for the 2011 training year: Medical Scenario Development Team Award; Tier -I Mentorship Team Award; and the Outstanding Coordinator Award. Col. Patrick Storm, director of Air Force medical modeling and simulation from Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, presented the awards. The Simulation Lab is staffed by coordinator Randy Bernhardt and operators Brad Belford and Jamie McElroy and is contracted through ICF International. All three are retired Air Force Medical Service craftsmen and collectively they bring more than 80 years of hands-on medical knowledge to the lab and have a vast medical background to share with students. Keesler's Medical Simulation Lab is one of 11 Tier-I sites globally and is responsible for mentoring eight medical simulation units in the Gulf South Region. This includes Hurlburt Field, Eglin, Tyndall, MacDill and Patrick AFBs in Florida, Barksdale AFB, La.; Maxwell AFB, Ala.; and Columbus AFB, Miss. The Keesler lab also is directly involved in providing training, equipment, support and clinical expertise to Keesler's three Graduate Medical Education Programs - internal medicine, general surgery and general dentistry. In addition, the lab staff is essential to the medical group's readiness skills verification programs for assigned professional nursing and numerous enlisted medical specialties. The lab, which provided more than 7,000 student-training hours in 2011, works very closely with Keesler's Clinical Research Laboratory. The lab staff assists with various medical research projects, providing space and some high-fidelity equipment to conduct research. "In addition to the outstanding support we received from the Air Force Medical Modeling and Simulation Office's Central Program Office at Randolph AFB, the lab owes its ongoing training success to Keesler's very engaged senior leadership and incredible assistance from the flight's enlisted staff," said Bernhardt. He added, "Without everyone's dedication to the possibilities medical simulation affords, we would not have been recognized. Improving health care is a team effort. As patients and caregivers we all hold a stake in the outcome." (Courtesy 81st Medical Group)