Dorrance H. Hamilton Building

A $10 million bequest from the estate of Robert D. Rector, MD ’48, and his wife, Dorothy, in support of the University Clinical Skills & Simulation Center was made in 2005. The Rectors practiced in Chambersburg, PA, where Dr. Rector was known as 'The Good Doctor.'  The couple had a commitment to the health and well-being of the Chambersburg community. Mrs. Rector single-handedly ran her husband’s practice, without the benefit of computers. “My uncle was very impressed with the education he received at Jefferson and wanted to make sure that today’s medical students had the same advantages,” nephew Jack Weber explains. Dr. Rector joined the staff of Chambersburg Hospital in 1961 and served with distinction for 40 years. He was respected by his fellow physicians who often called on his surgical expertise.

The Dr. and Mrs. Robert D. Rector University Clinical Skills & Simulation Center is housed on the third and fourth floors of the Hamilton Building, doubling the current clinical skills space and improving student access. Shared by the medical college and the college of health professions, every simulated lab space has lecture rooms with full range of audio/visual capabilities. The labs include surgical suites, exam rooms, critical care areas, a med-surg ward, mock apartments, and an acute care ward. “Sim Man” and “Harvey” — and their new friend “Noelle” — have their own rooms, as do the patient actors.

The technological aspects of the Hamilton Building enhance the offerings of the clinical skills center. The building has the capacity to record standardized patient interactions and medical simulations and project them into a large auditorium for student debriefing. Sophisticated software will allow students to analyze the data and evaluate their performance in patient interactions. Teleconferencing capabilities allow for classes to be projected to Jefferson’s affiliates and clinical sites. “Technology in the new Hamilton Building is extremely advanced,” says Katherine Berg, MD, co-director of the Rector Clinical Skills & Simulation Center. “So much of classroom instruction is in a centralized place yet students are scattered all over the country. The Hamilton Building’s teleconferencing and recordable simulation capabilities make interactive distance learning possible.”