Healthcare Simulation Week

Dr. Gordon’s first cardiology patients included several airline pilots who had perfected their piloting skills on flight simulators. Recognizing that simulators could also help medical students improve their bedside cardiac examination skills, Dr. Gordon built his first version of Harvey in 1968, the world’s first cardiopulmonary patient simulator.

In 1978, with the advent of the Laserdisc capable of playing high-quality audio and video, Dr. Gordon and his colleagues developed a Harvey curriculum and designed a case-based program for each heart disease — complete with full-color video clips of actual catheterizations and surgeries — for students to use on their own or in small groups.

In the 1980s, Dr. Gordon took further advantage of new means to teach and went on to develop a computer-based learning system, now called UMedic. UMedic provides Web-based training for cardiology, neurology, and emergency medicine skills worldwide focused on clinical training and decision making.

Dr. Gordon’s efforts in emergency medicine grew to become the Emergency Medical Skills Training Program at the Michael S. Gordon Center for Research in Medical Education. One of many Gordon Center programs, this one uses various forms of simulation to reach emergency professionals in 600 Florida agencies, as well as 800-plus in other states and internationally.

The Gordon Center has also been designated as the lead training center for the Florida Department of Health’s Emergency Response to Terrorism training program, and trains both federal agency personnel and U.S. Army Forward Surgical Trauma Teams before their front-line deployments.

“By better training those who serve and protect our citizens and our country, we have been able to contribute to a major reduction in mortality,” said Dr. Gordon.  Medical personnel trained at the Gordon Center and who lost their lives in combat are honored on the center’s Wall of Heroes.

Reflecting on his career, Dr. Gordon said, “The keys to my success have been my unrelenting focus and my desire to improve the lives of my patients as a physician, researcher and educator. The Miller School of Medicine has given me every opportunity to be creative and has supported our innovations through the decades. I will always be grateful to the U.”

Among the many awards Dr. Gordon received over his career were the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce’s AXA Advisors Lifetime Achievement Award, the “Gifted Teacher” Award of the American College of Cardiology, and the “pioneer” awards from both the Society for Simulation in Healthcare and his alma mater, the University of Illinois.

Dr. Gordon’s legacy lives on, especially through his family and his wife, Lynda, and through the lives of the people he mentored, the friends he touched, and through his innovations like Harvey which are by the day teaching students how to diagnose and save untold numbers of lives. Dr. Gordon exemplified the principles and character of the Good Samaritan. We have been privileged at Laerdal to know him.