 |
 |
 |
 |
||
The main VCOM building is approximately 60,000 square feet and is situated on a nine (9) acre campus. There are two parking areas: a student area with 260 spaces, and a faculty/staff area with 120 spaces. Handicapped and visitor parking is available in spaces along the front of the building. VCOM offers a state of the art anatomy lab which may well be the best in the nation. The information systems found at Virginia Tech provide our campus community with access to information systems and resources worldwide. VCOM classrooms are state-of-the-art. In addition to two theatre classrooms which seat 160 each, there are sixteen (16) moderately sized rooms available for small group learning. Clinical Skills Laboratories are interconnected using modern video, computer technology, and net meeting. VCOM provides a classroom environment that affords optimum learning conditions while demonstrating respect for both students and faculty alike. VCOM has recently added an 11,000 square foot research laboratory that houses seven (7) biomedical research laboratories.
The Simulation and Technology Center
In June 2008, VCOM opened The Simulation and Technology Center, an 11,000 square foot educational technologies center. When completed the Center will house cutting-edge high fidelity human medical simulators, standardized patient examination rooms, simulated surgical and intensive care unit suites, physical diagnosis and osteopathic manual therapy training labs, a simulated anatomy lab and radiology suite, and room for additional medical education programs. This facility, will ultimately represent the latest in medical simulation and learning technology.
The Center will contain six large rooms that house the clinical skills labs for physical diagnosis as well as osteopathic manual therapy. For the purpose of competency-based clinical skills testing, the labs can be converted easily into twelve simulated patient examination rooms, where actors, trained to simulate medical conditions, are used as simulated patients. Students are recorded for competency in communication skills, physical diagnosis, and technical skill performance. Three surgery suites with surgery and anesthesia training capabilities, a pediatric suite, a geriatric suite, an intensive care suite, a two-bay room equipped for emergent procedures and resuscitation, an obstetrical room, and virtual radiology suites are also included in this space. In addition, the Center will house an anatomy lab of permanently preserved (plastinated) cadavers.
The Center will provide numerous benefits to students and instructors. The early merging of simulation medicine into the curriculum will present students with challenging and realistic patient care scenarios, which provides consistency in the training and testing required for competency.Anatomy Lab
The anatomy lab is the envy of many medical colleges. VCOM maintains a cadaver laboratory as the faculty believe anatomy is essential to the understanding and practice of osteopathic medicine and that the cadaver experience cannot be replaced with a totally virtual tool. The laboratory is over 4,000 square feet, and there is individual air ventilation at each table that draws air through the tables and away from students. The individual air exchange system for the tables that is externally vented provides the air in the laboratory to be exchanged greater than 17 times per hour. The room supports 32 cadavers. In addition to the cadaver, there are 32 PC desktops with advanced virtual anatomy software. Each first year student receives the desktop anatomical version of the virtual human as a learning tool. The third floor view through the windowed walls provide for a pleasant atmosphere and natural lighting. State-of-the-art models are present for all systems at each table in order for students to correlate their cadaver anatomical findings with normals.
VCOM Library
The VCOM Library is located on the second floor of the main facility at the Edward Via Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine. It is a state-of-the-art electronic medical resource center serving the faculty, staff and students of the college. The VCOM library is hosted by VTLS Library Systems, an internationally known library and museum electronic host, and can be accessed from each student's home as well as the clinical sites. The VCOM library has over 200 texts and 500 journal resources. The VTLS portal allows high speed access to the most current evidence-based literature and educational resources currently available online.
Medical students also have access on campus to the Virginia Tech Libraries which includes the main library, Carol M. Newman Library, and the Veterinary Medicine Library. The Newman Library, a member of the Association of Research Libraries, is a large research facility housing 2 million bound volumes, 6 million microforms, 8,870 videos and films, 8,640 cassettes and recordings and 131,472 maps. A special collections department houses major research and archival collections. Items in the collections may be located by visiting the library and using the online catalog.
The electronic library is available 24 hours a day.
Bookstore
Required texts and references, clinical items and equipment and VCOM logo items such as clothing and gifts are sold at the Virginia Tech University Bookstore located on Virginia Tech’s campus and at an off-campus site in Blacksburg. You can also visit the online Bookstore.