WVU Critical Care and Trauma Institute Expands Fresh Tissue Training Program Facilities
On Wednesday (Oct. 2), the WVU Critical Care and Trauma Institute’s Fresh Tissue Training Program hosted an open house to highlight the $2.2 million renovation and expansion of its facilities, located on the ground floor of the WVU Health Sciences Center in Morgantown.
Established in 2018, the Fresh Tissue Training Program has been instrumental in providing surgical residents and military medics with hands-on opportunities to refine their skills through life-like trauma and surgical scenarios.
“To date, we have trained approximately 200 WVU residents and fellows, and almost 300 military personnel,” Daniel Grabo, MD, WVU Critical Care and Trauma Institute trauma education director, said. “With this expansion, we can increase the number of trainees and offer training for additional WVU medicine providers, nurses, and technicians across the system.”
The original fresh tissue facility started as a modest 500-square-foot space with a single operating table and has now grown into a state-of-the-art, approximately 1,900-square-foot space with the capacity for a four-bed operating room set-up, conference room, and recording capability that enables real-time viewing of procedure/trainings to assist with educational purposes and learning.
The program’s innovative approach to surgical training uses fresh cadavers, provided by the WVU Human Gift Registry, that are connected to ventilators and perfusion machines. These machines pump simulated blood through the body, creating realistic trauma and surgical environments. As one of only four such programs in the nation, this groundbreaking training model is a collaborative initiative involving the WVU Critical Care and Trauma Institute, WVU Department of Surgery, and WVU School of Medicine.
The newly expanded facility will continue to serve surgical trainees throughout West Virginia, along with military personnel, including active-duty special forces and National Guard members, who use the program to maintain critical surgical and trauma skills. This expansion will further enhance opportunities for both current surgical residents and the next generation of WVU-trained medical professionals.