‘SimMan’ Helps Nursing Students Make Life-And-Death Decisions

 DANBURY — There is a new man on campus at Western Connecticut State University, and he represents a whole new kind of student “body.” In fact, despite the fact that he is breathing, his heart is beating, and he can voice a wide array of complaints, he is not human — he is “SimMan.”

SimMan is the latest in state-of-the-art medical simulators designed to teach critical thinking and decisionmaking skills to health care providers. Remember the “Resusci Anni” mannequin on which many of us were taught how to administer cardio-pulmonary-resuscitation (CPR)? Well, SimMan, manufactured by Laerdal, the same company that made Resusci-Anni, could be considered a distant descendant.

Dr Karen Daley, assistant professor of nursing, explained why.

“SimMan would be like the great-great-great-grandson of Resusci-Anni in terms of how far we’ve come,” Dr Daley said. “Now, the technology has advanced to the point where we can almost simulate life.”

At first glance, WestConn’s SimMan looks like a high quality department store mannequin who is having a bad day. But get closer … close enough to touch him … and you are in for a surprise. He has a pulse. You can clearly feel it in his left wrist. Place your hand gently on his chest, and you can feel not only his beating heart, but also the expansion of his lungs as he draws each breath.

Not far away, a laptop monitor displays a schematic of SimMan’s torso. With a few clicks on the keyboard, nursing instructors can send his heart rate skyrocketing, or throw him into an asthma attack. They can make him complain, moan, and mutter, “go away” to anyone who comes near him.

One thing he cannot tell you is how much he cost — about $28,000. And he is worth every penny, according to Dr Daley and Dr Karen Crouse, assistant nursing professor.

 “Human patients have been the standard in nursing education for many years,” Dr Daley said. “We’ve only had access to this kind of technology for about five years, even though physicians, emergency medical technicians and anesthesiologists have used SimMan for about ten years.

“Patients now really are consumers of health care, and they don’t like us practicing on them,” she continued. “At the same time, as nurses on the floor, we’re asked to react very quickly to situations. With the SimMan, student nurses can make mistakes, rethink, back up, and make it right. The problem-solving and the practice build not only competence, but also confidence.”

Dr Crouse agreed.

“This is just so much more interactive and the students really appreciate it,” Dr Crouse said. “It ties all the pieces together so the students can see the big picture, but nobody can get hurt because it’s not a real patient. It reinforces that they have to assess the patient, not the monitors. It also gives the students a better sense of what the clinical environment feels like, and can make real situations when they are working nurses much less frightening.”

Another benefit is that the hands-on experience nursing students can acquire at SimMan’s bedside will be indispensable when they go looking for a job. Dr Daley said almost all of the area hospitals test nurses before hiring them. Those tests are often conducted on a SimMan.

“We certainly don’t want students seeing a SimMan for the first time when they are being tested for a job,” Dr Daley said.

Angela DiLillo, a nursing education specialist at Danbury Hospital, agreed.

“I think the WestConn nursing students will have an edge because of the SimMan,” she said. “It will give them experience in some clinical types of situations.”

Dr Lynne Clark, dean of the School of Professional Studies, whose support was instrumental in the acquisition of SimMan, added, “The SimMan will effectively assist BSN students in their clinical preparation before they complete their external clinical practicums. Today’s hospitals and related medical settings now require the BSN students to come to the clinical practice setting fully prepared. These facilities do not want their patients being the first persons that nursing students practice on. SimMan will appropriately provide such practice.”

Drs Daley and Crouse hope that SimMan will have company on campus some time soon. Laerdal makes an infant simulator for practicing pediatric medicine, and there is even a pregnant simulator for teaching infant and maternal care. In the meantime, “George,” as the senior nursing students who first saw the SimMan named him, will be the center of all the nursing students’ attention.