Residents practice intubating a Covid-19 positive patient wearing PPE in the clinical simulation center.
The historical criticism of the healthcare industry is that it changes slowly. However, in the face of the pandemic, providers have to change their clinical protocols and train staff overnight to adapt to changes in needs. For an academic medical center in Nebraska, this means resorting to patient simulation.
The center is called the Enduring Learning Inter-Professional Experience Center or IEXCEL, which provides advanced simulation and visualization technology for medical training. It was established through funding from Nebraska, Omaha, the federal government, and philanthropists.Although it is located Davis Global Center, University of Nebraska Medical Center Pamela J. Boyers, vice principal of clinical simulation at iEXCEL, said in an email that in Omaha, the center is connected to the state’s remote training site through interactive programs and on-site virtual events.
“the goal [of iEXCEL is] Create a model of change for health vocational education,” she said.
Patient simulation Allow medical students and practitioners to develop the technical and professional skills required in the field of their choice, without the risks inherent in managing human patients.
The use of simulation in healthcare is nothing new-a survey conducted by the American Association of Medical Colleges a decade ago found that more than 80% of medical schools include simulation-based training in all four-year courses.Since then, research reports Continue to show This technology is effective for medical education and training.
After five years of design and construction, the UNMC center opened in March last year, coinciding with the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We immediately turned our attention to providing specialized training for healthcare professionals so that they can protect themselves and their patients,” Boyes said. “Because the Davis Global Center has extensive simulation technology and experienced staff, we are able to provide’just in time’ training for healthcare professionals working on the front lines.”
Medical staff have received training on the correct putting on and taking off procedures for personal protective equipment, complete PPE communication and teamwork skills, and accurate nasopharyngeal swab techniques – all of which are necessary while caring for highly infectious Covid-19 patients. An indispensable agreement. Training includes virtual reality simulation and hands-on training of human models that can replicate physiological changes. Trainees include UNMC students and residents, Nebraska medical clinicians, and healthcare professionals from other organizations.
By the end of 2020, more than 12,500 trainees are using the facility.
The 192,000-square-foot Davis Global Center provides simulation technology for different types of care, including home care rooms, biological containment clinical training and simulation rooms, and various simulated hospital units. It also provides 3D augmented reality/virtual reality platforms, such as holographic cinema.
Gaumard Scientific, a company that designs, manufactures and sells patient simulators, has developed a medical simulation facility in cooperation with the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
Jim Archetto, vice president of US sales at Gaumard Scientific, said in an email that clinical simulation technology has become more and more popular in the past few years because learners entering medical and nursing schools have grown with the growth of games, mobile phones and tablet technology. growing up.
“… the old days of sitting in the lecture hall [are] It’s really gone,” he said. “People learn very differently now. “
This has resulted in the global market value of medical simulations being approximately USD 2.1 billion in 2020And a large number of companies that provide medical simulation technology, including CAE Healthcare, Open source software with Virtual reality skeleton,recent Raised $27 million In funding.
Gaumard Scientific focuses on improving the ability of healthcare professionals to respond to various accidents and diseases. It provides a patient simulator-a human body model controlled wirelessly via a tablet computer-enabling operators to train students to control physiological changes from a distance. This technology can simulate a series of physiological reactions of different types of patients.
For example, Gaumard has a simulator that can replicate the exact physiological response of a 5-year-old child being stung by a bee, traumatic brain injury, or asthma attack, Archetto said. They also have a childbirth simulator-a human body model that is the same size and weight as the average adult woman who produces robot babies.
In addition, the mannequin provided by Gaumard can replicate common respiratory problems among Covid-19 patients, enabling health professionals outside of respiratory care to receive training in the use of ventilators.
The company works closely with doctors to understand how they treat patients and incorporate this knowledge into the development of the simulator.
“Clinical simulation provides an important aid to training,” Archetto said. “Students practice clinical skills and critical thinking on lifelike patient simulators, simulating the patient’s clinical situation. This allows learners to gain valuable experience with new technologies long before they enter the real clinical situation.”
Photo: University of Nebraska Medical Center
