Robo-Patients Allow Students To Practice In Canada

A simulator lab training centre set up by the anesthesia department allows students to experience the challenges of working in a hospital operating room in a setting that looks and functions as close as possible to the real thing. An official opening of the lab was held on Wednesday.

In a room on the first floor of the McMaster University Health Sciences Centre, the new training lab features computer-operated medical equipment hooked up to what appears to be a real patient on an operating room table. In fact, the patient is a $100,000 computerized, human-like robot that mimics bodily functions such as breathing, heartbeat, swelling and other changes in human conditions that might be experienced by an actual patient.

Medical students learn how to properly administer anesthesia and monitor the patient and medical equipment. A control room in the lab allows the instructor to watch the students and manipulate the mannequin's responses to mimic what might occur in a real-life situation. The patient's heart rate or breathing can change, and the throat or tongue can swell, requiring the students to think on their feet and make the necessary adjustments.

The use of simulation technology at McMaster will expand significantly in coming months, as the School of Nursing uses government funding to establish another simulation lab, complete with a family of robo-patients. The lab will provide a virtual hospital experience in which nursing students can practise assessment and treatment, and apply their critical, problem-solving skills using anatomically-correct, computerized mannequins that can speak and simulate different medical conditions. It will be utilized by students of the joint McMaster-Mohawk-Conestoga nursing program, and eventually expand to offer interprofessional training for students in a variety of health care training programs.

I remember when practicing on the patients was "on the job training;" ah, the good 'ol days. I think we're going to see a lot more simulators to learn procedures in the years ahead. If we can teach a pilot to land a jet on an aircraft carrier in a simulator, I'm sure we can figure out how to teach a doctor to remove a gallbladder.

From TechNudge.