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BY WILL PINKSTON wpinkston@paducahsun.com
The Paducah Sun
Mar 19, 2012 | 422 views | 0
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WILL PINKSTON | The Sun
Darian Stubblefield and Erica Brown, both sophomores in the nursing program at Murray State University, practice listening for lung and heart sounds, and administering injections on one of the program's Sim Men. The life-sized, digital mannequins allow students to practice emergency situations in a controlled environment without the fear of harming an actual patient.
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WILL PINKSTON | The Sun
Erica Brown and Darian Stubblefield, both sophomores in the nursing program at Murray State University, practice common nursing techniques on a Sim Man. The life-sized, digital mannequin can be controlled by an instructor through a computer to mimic adverse heart and lung sounds, swelling tongue due to an allergic reaction and can even say messages like, "I can't breath."
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WILL PINKSTON | The Sun
Erica Brown, a sophomore in the nursing program at Murray State University, demonstrates the proper way to administer an injection on one of the Sim Man's many stick locations that imitate human skin. The hyper-realistic Sim Man allows students to experience hands-on medical situations without the fear of harming an actual patient.
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MURRAY — Although she hadn’t officially been checked off on injections yet, nursing student Erica Brown located the patient’s injection site and assuredly plunged the needle into his thigh with ease.
To the patient’s credit — and to Brown’s — there wasn’t even a hesitant flinch from either. That’s the point.
Programmed to imitate the most minute of bodily functions, several high-tech and highly-humanoid, medical mannequins provide Murray State University students like Brown, an education usually reserved for clinicals.
Known as “Sim Men,” the mannequins allow students unprecedented access to learn proper techniques without fear of harming an actual patient. But just how life-like these mannequins are, is shocking, said Tonia Mailow, a Murray State nursing instructor.
Capabilities include recorded speech responses; pulses; IV sites with blood return; heart and lung sounds; a swelling tongue to mimic allergic reaction; an airway to practice intubation; interchangeable eyes to depict respiratory distress; and changeable genitalia to practice catheter placement.
If the mannequin itself isn’t life-like enough, instructors can digitally change symptoms in an instant — using a hand held PDA — mimicking a precarious scenario.
“Sometimes they panic and they don’t know what to do, but most of the time it’s like ‘boom’ and their training kicks in,” Mailow said.
The department has two high-fidelity Sim Men with digital connectivity, one low-fidelity model and an obstetrics model that will birth a baby. The networking capability allows instructors to present students with a particular situation they might not be allowed to handle during clinicals.
“It has obviously increased our students’ ability to learn more true to life,” Mailow said. “We can create scenarios that are seen in the hospital but not as often.
“Our students might be able to be in the (hospital) room when a patient is in cardiac arrest, but it’s immediate for people to say ‘step back,’ because you want more advanced people doing that procedure. So our students might not get true hands on, but we can simulate that here.”
Students interactions with the mannequins are recorded via camera then reviewed as a teachable point.
“It’s a great learning experience and as we advance further in our student nursing, we’ll get to experience more and different situations,” Brown said.
“They definitely take off some of the pressure of actually performing procedures on an actual person,” said Darian Stubblefield, a nursing student.
Although still new to the department, Mailow said the mannequins are being integrated into more classes, allowing students a clear step-up before setting foot in a hospital.
Call Will Pinkston, a Sun staff writer, at 270-575-8676.
