UAMS Names Anders Director of Simulation Center

By Jon Parham

He brings his experience as a respiratory therapist, educator and researcher to prepare students and employees to perform medical procedures, improve patient assessment and clinical reasoning, and work on patient-centered interprofessional teams by practicing with high-tech manikins.

Anders, a registered respiratory therapist, will direct simulation programs in the 7,500-square-foot center that includes state-of-the-art simulation theaters, control rooms and debriefing rooms for creating highly realistic medical situations for students from all five UAMS colleges as well as for employees in UAMS clinical programs. It is the state’s largest comprehensive adult medical simulation center, with computerized, life-like manikins for hands-on training of students, faculty and staff.

Anders previously served 14 years as a faculty member in the Department of Respiratory and Surgical Technologies in the UAMS College of Health Related Professions. He also is the principal investigator in a study on the impact of simulation in interprofessional collaborative practice for students in the UAMS colleges of Nursing, Pharmacy, Medicine and Health Related Professions.

Prior to his UAMS faculty appointment, Anders served in various capacities at Arkansas Children’s Hospital, including flight therapist-paramedic, extracorporeal life support technical specialist and the education-research coordinator for Respiratory Care Services.

UAMS is the state’s only comprehensive academic health center, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Related Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a hospital; a statewide network of regional centers; and seven institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, the Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, the Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy, the Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, the Psychiatric Research Institute, the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging and the Translational Research Institute. Named best Little Rock metropolitan area hospital by U.S. News & World Report, it is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has more than 2,800 students and 775 medical residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 10,000 employees, including about 1,000 physicians and other professionals who provide care to patients at UAMS, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the VA Medical Center and UAMS’ Area Health Education Centers throughout the state. Visit www.uams.edu or uamshealth.com.