MAHAK Skill Lab

What is a Skill Lab?

Let us hear the answer from Ms. Falsafi, MAHAK Educational Supervisor

Hospital skill lab is designed to turn knowledge into skill. It is a chance for healthcare professionals, physicians, nurses, and allied health staffs, to practice and enhance their clinical skills in a controlled environment. First, let’s check out the functions of a skill lab:

• Training & Education: skill labs provide hands-on training for medical procedures, allowing staffs to learn and practice techniques before applying them in real patient scenarios.
• Simulation: they often include simulation equipment and mannequins that copycat real-life medical situations, enabling practitioners to experience and manage various clinical scenarios safely.
• Assessment: skill labs can be used to assess the competencies of healthcare professionals, ensuring they meet the required standards for patient care.
• Unending education: they serve as a venue for ongoing education, where staffs can stay updated on new techniques, technologies, and best practices in healthcare.

Besides the functions of skill labs for professionals, what are the advantages of establishing a skill lab for health care centers?

• Improved Patient Safety: by allowing healthcare professionals to practice and refine their skills, skill labs contribute to better patient outcomes and reduce medical errors.
• Standardization of Care: skill labs promote standardized training, ensuring that healthcare center staff members are equipped with the updated knowledge and skills, hence providing top-grade medical services.
• Enhanced Teamwork: they provide opportunities for interdisciplinary training, fostering collaboration and communication among different healthcare teams.
• Adaptation to New Technologies: with the purpose of providing high quality services, skill labs enable the healthcare centers to expedite the introduction and training of new medical technologies and procedures to their staff, making them front-runner in the field.

Cancer Awareness Month provides an appropriate opportunity to highlight innovations and advancements. MAHAK skill lab initiated its work since 2021, directed by Ms. Falsafi.

Ms. Falsafi and her coworkers, in line with the American Heart Association (AHA) and the American College of Surgeons (ACS) standards and collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Medical Education of Iran, not only have run skill labs at MAHAK, but also has extended this practice across the country. This initiative has impacted the rates of successful Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), as well as Pre Hospital Trauma Life Support (PHTLS).

While the skill lab provides significant benefits to healthcare institutions, at the same time there are also some challenges in this case. For instance, the required supplies to equip the skill lab are expensive, which results in workshops being costly. Moreover, the conception promoting of skill lab is still a challenging topic that is required to be considered continuously by health care centers.

Once again, happy International Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. May it be the platform to raise awareness about the skill lab, its functions and advantages in the health and medicine industry.