Simulated Patients for Emergency Training

New hands-on training mannequins for emergency medical personnel are life-like replicas of a baby and an adult man.

The SimBaby is a U.S.$28,000 high-technology simulator about the size of a three-month-old infant that has a pulse and maintains heart rhythm and blood pressure. The realistic anatomy includes an airway that allows for intubation practice, since infants' airways are very small and tend to be difficult to keep open during emergencies. SimBaby can be programmed to simulate a range of illness and medical emergencies, including cardiac arrest and breathing difficulties. The baby's condition improves or deteriorates depending on the intervention made.

SimMan, also an anatomically accurate mannequin, is equipped with a realistic airway system, an intravenous arm, physiologically correct femoral, brachial, and radial pulse and more than 2,500 cardiac rhythm variants, to allow for a variety of realistic scenarios. SimMan can produce spontaneous breathing, heart and lung sounds, as well as coughing and moaning sounds. Both SimBaby and SimMan were developed by Laerdal Medical Corp. (Stavanger, Norway).

SimBaby and SimMan will be aboard the SimLab, a 45-foot motor coach with a full ambulance bay and emergency department area, that will be offering advanced training to rural emergency medicine providers across Florida (USA), including physicians, paramedics, nurses, and physician assistants. SimLab will also offer education and training to hospitals, colleges, universities, and other healthcare organizations in the state. The lab also contains video equipment and other monitoring systems.

SimBaby is also being used at the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Research University (Cleveland, OH, USA) to train neonatal nurse practitioners (NNPs) students.

"Simulation training is rapidly advancing as an important component of nursing and medical education,” observed Donna Dowling, assistant professor of nursing at Case and expert in neonatal nursing practices. "Our goal is to provide students the opportunity to simulate an emergency, analyze the situation, and think critically in forming and implementing a plan of case management.”




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Laerdal Medical