While there is no substitute for hands-on experience, Cooper offers a number of resources to maximize your learning opportunities.
Simulation Laboratory
The Cooper University Hospital Simulation Laboratory (SimLab) is dedicated to advancing health care provider education at all clinical levels. Our goal is to achieve realistic, accurate, real-time medical simulation using state-of-the-art technology. Computer-generated scenarios, simulating acute medical conditions in lifelike mannequins/trainers, allow participants to develop skill sets in a safe, controlled environment removed from the clinical setting.
Facilitators trained in the use of computer-driven simulation adjuncts provide one-to-one and small-group instruction using lifelike mannequins. Attention is focused on maintaining a nonthreatening learning environment, providing adequate mechanisms for positive feedback, and developing a supportive student-facilitator relationship.
The SimLab currently employs adult, pediatric, and specialty VR simulators to train residents in patient assessment, respiratory and cardiac arrest, acute airway emergencies, sepsis management, central line placement, laparoscopy, bronchoscopy, and endoscopy/colonoscopy. Motivated residents have an opportunity to be trained as SimLab instructors in areas of clinical interest. Course development is under way on team-building and crisis management.
Library Services
The CMSRU/Cooper University Hospital Library provides a wide range of information resources and services. The collection reflects the demand for access to electronic materials with over 6,000 e-journals and 2,000 e-books. A small print collection of 3,000 volumes contains textbooks, study/review books, handbooks, and atlases. Both collections are supplemented by an active and efficient document delivery service. Librarians offer a variety of services including literature searches, training, and support for research and publishing. Library resources are accessed at www.rowan.lib.edu/cmsru.
The Library Computer Lab provides 18 computers and one photocopier/printer. An additional 11 computers with printing capability are available in the main Library area. The Library also provides a quiet study room, which has 12 study carrels equipped with white boards and power for charging devices.
The main entrance to the Library is located off of the walkway that runs from the parking garage to the hospital lobby. All faculty, staff, and students may access the Library 24/7 via a badge swipe system.
The Library is staffed Monday-Friday 8:00 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Access to the print collection is available during these hours.
Research and Innovation
The Cooper Institutional Review Board (IRB) is an independent regulatory review board operating under our own FederalWide Assurance (FWA) with the Office of Human Research Protections of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) for over 2 decades. Our mission is to create a collaborative environment to stimulate and support high quality scholarly activities, such as research, while protecting the rights and welfare of individuals who participate. The Cooper IRB reviews a wide range of research from innocuous [less than minimal risk] survey research to retrospective chart reviews to greater than minimal risk interventional [drug or device] trials across all disciplines. All residents and fellows are encouraged to engage in existing or new research with faculty mentorship to advance knowledge of basic research principles. The IRB is located on the first floor of the Education and Research Building or you may reach the team at IRBOnlineHelp@cooperhealth.edu.
Research Institute
The Cooper Research Institute (CRI) provides focused administrative and financial support for research to the Cooper University Health Care researchers. CRI provides researchers with regulatory-mandated education, biostatistical support, and guidance through the Institutional Review Board. The institute helps researchers secure grants from government agencies, foundations, and industry, allowing them to continue Cooper’s long history of medical research.
Cooper faculty members conduct more than 400 NIH foundation- and industry-sponsored clinical trials each year. Through basic and clinical research, researchers provide thousands of South Jersey patients access to cutting-edge treatment in the fields of cancer, cardiovascular disease, critical care medicine, diabetes, orthopaedics, stroke, and surgery.