Simlog

Our new family: Suzie, Hal and Baby Hal

It is with great excitement that we share the wonderful news about our ever-expanding family of high-fidelity simulators.  Thanks to some capital funding, the Clinical Simulation Program was able to acquire three Gaumard simulators: Advanced Airway Hal, Susie and Newborn Hal.  This new equipment will allow our labs to serve more students and faculty, and brings diversity to simulation scenarios.

The Susie simulator is our first female high fidelity simulator.  No more unconvincing, broad shouldered “lady” in lab: we now have a real fake woman.  Major features that Susie brings to the table are: interchangeable breasts with a variety of tumors and growths; multiple palpable pulses, auscultation sounds and reactive eyes.

Advanced Airway Hal is our first non-white simulator; it is so great to see simulator manufacturers helping educators to bring ethnic and cultural components to simulation.  In addition, Hal has a greater level of control with his airway and lungs: he has adjustable inspiratory and expiratory times, as well as a greater range of lung compliance.  Soon to be tested will be his drug recognition system: here’s hoping it works flawlessly and allow learners to get rapid feedback on their treatment.

And, of course, the baby.  Newborn Hal is a perfect little bundle of cuteness, if you think robots are cute.  As a smaller and wireless baby simulator, he adds realism to scenarios: mommy and daddy can hold and care for him, along with student learners.  He has a replaceable umbilical that can be cut, pulses (umbilical, brachial, fontanael) and chest rise.  By far the coolest feature, though, is his muscle tone: his arms will move, go limp or spasm.  It is pretty wild to hold a robot baby that cries and wiggles in your arms.

With all these new members to our family, we want to invite you all to a Baby Shower:

Come by on February 14th to say hi to our new simulators and catch up with some of our veteran manikins.

Hope everyone has a great start to the spring semester.

It’s hard to believe that another semester is coming to an end. Students are finishing up taking final exams and are ready for a well deserved break. It’s time to reflect on the activities here at CSP during these last several weeks.

To improve their diagnostic skills, RN to BSN students in Professor Carol MacLeod’s class spent some time with Gene (3G) as part of their assessment course. They listened to Gene’s heart and lung sounds, identifying the characteristics of  a variety of normal and abnormal sounds.  At the end of the semester they returned to the simlabs for their final exam. Pairs of students performed assessments on each other while their instructor observed, via video feed to our adjoining debriefing room. Each assessment was recorded and uploaded to their Blackboard class platform. Students viewed their own assessment and evaluated their performance. They submitted their comments to receive feedback and their final grade.

RN students practicing their assessment skills.

Gene provides opportunities for RN's to practice assessment skills.

Professor Mariann Mankowski’s Social Work students taking Advanced Clinical Theories for Practice with Individuals, had the opportunity to conduct a therapy session with an actor client who played a role based on a case study. Each student from the class spent 20 minutes with the client, using interventions based on a specific clinical theory. Classmates in the adjoining classroom watched the live video feed.  At the conclusion of the session students were able to obtain feedback from their instructor and the actor.

Practice in Medicine & Health students also came to the simulation labs to practice meeting with a family members in the hospital setting. Professor Cindy Tack developed scenarios the allowed her students the opportunity to gather assessment information, provide interventions and build rapport with various family members, while navigating space, equipment and distractions in a busy hospital intensive care room.

Honing counseling skills in the Sim lab

Social work students meet the "client" during debriefing session.

A clinical case was presented to Physician Assistant students during weekly Integrating Seminars held in the simulation labs. One student was assigned the role of the patient while teams of two students took turns practicing their assessment and interview skills. Four teams of students systematically completed a head to toe assessment of their “client.” They took a history and performed a physical exam on the “patient” based on his/her chief complaint. Each team received feedback from their fellow students and faculty.

PA students Integrating Seminar debriefing session.

Nurse Anesthesia students spent many hours in the skills lab (Blewett 203) this semester. Besides practicing a variety of task training skills, they also had hands on practice on the anesthesia machine. Prior to coming to the machine check lab, they watched a video filmed in the simulations labs, starring MSNA Director Maribeth Massie. The video provided information about how to perform a comprehensive check of the anesthesia machine.

MSNA students task training practice lab session.

Cynthia and Ryan were delighted to host aspiring health professions students from Westbrook Regional High School who had the opportunity to see what goes on here at CSP and to practice some of the skills that they have been learning in their Introduction to Health Professions course. Students were enthusiastic and looked very professional in their scrubs.  They were an impressive group of young people and several expressed the desire to attend UNE. We hope they do!

Westbrook Regional students visit with SimMan 3G.

Nursing 201 (Medical Surgical Nursing II) students, under the direction of Professor Dawne-Marie Dunbar, continued their weekly visits to the simlab. They were always enthusiastic learners and appreciative of the opportunity to practice caring for a variety of different simulated patients here in at CSP. We saw fewer nursing students this past semester because of the transition from our ADN program to our new BSN program. We look forward to next fall when the first class of BSN nursing students (currently sophomores in Biddeford) will arrive on this campus and begin learning clinical skills in the simulation labs.

Nursing students meet their post operative patient.

We’ve had a great semester and are already busy collaborating with faculty and planning for a busy spring semester. Check back with us next month to learn all about the newest members of our simulation family. Very exciting!

Happy Holidays to All.

Happy Holidays from our family to yours!

See you in January!

P.S. Don’t forget to LIKE us on our Facebook page so you can keep up on the weekly happenings here at CSP.

The simulation labs have been very busy this month with Nursing, Social Work, Physical Therapy, Integrated Health Sciences, Nurse Anesthesia and Physician Assistant students all learning and practicing a variety of skills. CSP also hosted a very fun and successful Open House, inviting UNE faculty, staff and students to meet the newest member of our mannequin family (3G), tour our sim spaces and learn what goes on in the clinical simulation labs. The pictures below tell the story…

Integrated Health Sciences students on the Biddeford campus getting their first exposure to simulation.

Department of Nursing Director, Bonnie Davis learning about the Gaumard Newborn simulator

Filming of a nursing simulation case that was presented to medical surgical nursing class in order to highlight didactic content

Social Work students pose with 3G who played the role of critically injured family member.

Physical Therapy students practicing taking blood pressures on 3G.

Physician Assistant students listening to heart sounds.

Nurse Anesthesia practicing their cannulation skills

Aaaaaand…we’re back!  After a summer full of fun and rest, our academic year has begun.  Welcome to new students and faculty; welcome back to our good ol’ friends.

The lab’s time this summer was split up between simulation sessions, special projects and reorganizing.  First-year Physician Assistant students were fortunate to be the first program to use our new SimMan 3G.  Cynthia and I brought him to the Alexander 07 lab for several assessment sessions.  We focused on pulses, eyes and auscultation (listening to heart, lung and belly sounds).  The students were fabulously fun to work with: so great, in fact, that I let them name the new simulator.  Say hello to Gene and the students who named him:

PA students feel the pulses on SimMan 3G ("Gene")

MSNA students came to lab for their capstone simulation experience: Crisis Resource Management (CRM).  They participated in several intense operating room scenarios with our METI simulator.  Each student gets their turn putting METI to sleep and adapting to a variety of emergencies.  These scenarios always stand out for me because the MSNA faculty put forth a lot of energy into creating a realistic case: the lab is filled with multiple actors and lots of equipment.  It was great to have them come to lab.

MSNA student care for patient while surgeon prepares to cut.

Amongst cleaning and organizing our many rooms, two projects came to fruition: doors and air!  Our two original simulation rooms (Blewett 116 and 117) now connect directly into our debriefing room (Blewett 107).  This will keep the learning environment contiguous and allow students to share their initial reactions to a scenario.  Additionally, it will allow equipment to be easily moved between rooms (the doors are extra wide).  The benefit for me, however, is that I can now see sunlight in my office.

Though, it goes through three windows and has to travel 100 feet.

So it’s not that bright.

Still, I can see trees!

Door from 116 to 107, with Gene and METI.

As for the air project, Facilities was kind enough to set up an air compressor in the basement that feeds to the gas room.  Our two METI simulators suck up a lot of air when they are running.  For the past 7 years, the lab has been paying to rent and lease canisters to provide this air.  But now we get it for free!  Yippee!

Finally, in the first week of August, I was lucky enough to travel to Las Vegas for the first annual Gathering of Technicians (GOT), a conference focused on the technical side of all things simulation.  The conference was hosted by the University of Nevada – Las Vegas (UNLV) and their entire staff was absolutely delightful.  The facility at UNLV is fantastic and, thankfully, air conditioned.

Capt. Wilkinson speaks to the crowd of 85 simulation technical staff.

We had two very full days of workshops and lectures.  Topics included moulage (the “making up” of wounds and physical props), video technology and vendor-specific training.  My favorite session, though, was the talk by Captain Steven Wilkinson.  A former airline pilot trainer, the Captain taught us a few lessons about how simulation came about in the airline industry.  The success of making simulation a natural part of a pilot’s training and continued certification, is an inspiration to me.  Medical simulation will most likely follow the same route, where standards are set for simulated work time before board certification and during one’s career.  It’s very exciting to think about the places we will be going!

Ryan rocks the apron while preparing a bloody emesis (AKA vomit) at GOT.

Here’s to another exciting year at UNE CSP!  See you soon!

The month of May marked the end of our 2010-2011 calendar year and we have had a busy year.  The simulation labs were utilized for many learning opportunities. In this supportive atmosphere, students and faculty were able to focus on both discipline specific skill development and interdisciplinary professional competencies. We have seen two thousand two hundred and forty-nine learners experiencing a variety of simulation activities during six hundred and seventy-six lab hours.

Students from most all of our health professions departments spent time with us in April and May, including: Physical Therapy students and Nursing students, highlighted below.

Physical Therapy students were welcomed back in to the simulation labs this spring.  As part of their Physical Therapy Management of Adults with Disorders of the Neuromuscular System class, the students had the opportunity to conduct a physical therapy treatment session for a patient with a traumatic brain injury (TBI). The patient’s behavior (agitation, confusion, lethargy etc) was the focus of the session.

Ryan filming Physical Therapy students practicing in the simulation lab.

Nursing students ended their busy year in the simulation labs practicing their medical surgical, psychiatric, pediatric, teaching and maternity nursing skills.

Medical surgical nursing students collaborating on the care of their patient.

Nursing students practicing their teaching skills.

Ryan plays role of psychiatric patient needing reassurance from nursing student.

Nursing faculty member, Marge Aube, is "Mom" to Pediatric Hal.

Our senior nursing students were a bit sentimental as they commented on their last sim experience before graduating from UNE.

• Experience was wonderful!
• Always a pleasure, allows us to put our brains to work.
• I love Sim!!
• Bye bye sim, it’s been swell I will miss you.
• I love sim lab! Sad it’s the last one!

3G Arrives!

It is always hard to say good-bye to our graduating students but it was fun to say “Hello!” to our new high fidelity wireless simulator, Laerdal’s SimMan 3G. Ryan wasted no time unpacking our new mannequin and  has already put in many hours discovering how easy 3G is to operate. We are happily imagining the variety of new environments and patient cases that will be available to us as we integrate our newest member of our mannequin family into our simulation learning experiences.

SimMan 3G meeting other "family" members.

That’s all for now, but we’ll be back with another update in July. Happy summer to all.