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Your Healthy Family: An introduction to NCH Healthcare System's Simulation Center

Posted at 8:17 AM, Dec 06, 2021
and last updated 2022-03-15 12:16:46-04

NAPLES, Fla. — Fox 4 is giving you an inside look at NCH Healthcare System's Simulation Center. It helps the doctors, nurses, techs and other medical staff train and prepare to keep you safe.

In the 6-plus months since it opened, the NCH Judith & Marvin Herb Family Simulation Center has given staff hands-on experiences so they can provide you bette rcare.

"The NCH Simulation Center is a place that individuals can come and practice and learn,” Dr. Douglas Harrington, the Director of the Simulation Center, said.

Dr. Harrington said typically people learn by sitting in a classroom or hearing a lecture.

"The retention rate by reading a book and listening to a lecture is about 15 percent," Dr. Harrington said.

But when you immerse the learner into a hands-on situation, he said that retention percentage goes up.

"A live scenario with actors or the mannequin, Bob, they'll remember 85 percent of that experience,” he said.

Fox 4 was there, as NCH Healthcare System's Cardiac and Pulmonary Rehab was prepping an emergency scenario to run with their staff.

"They’re trying to figure out how to set the room up so it’s the most realistic. They’ll bring their learners back — who are employees of the hospital — so they’ll be able to train. If somebody goes off a bike and has a cardio-pulmonary arrest or medical emergency, how does that team take care of that patient before they call the hospital or 911?” Dr. Harrington said.

With technology constantly changing, the Simulation Center gives healthcare workers the opportunity to train with new equipment in real-life scenarios.

"We've had a number of the surgeons, cardiologists, pulmonary critical care physicians actually bring new technology into the Simulation Center, both to try it and see it, but then start to train the rest of the hospital on it," Dr. Harrington said.

The Simulation Center has partnered with central supply and has a whole closet packed with expired tools and materials from NCH Healthcare System that otherwise would've had no use.

"So instead of being thrown out the hospital, we re-purpose it for training," Dr. Harrington said.

Not only does it help the hospital with training on their own equipment, but it also saves them money.

The vision of the Simulation Center is to first work with the doctors, nurses, aides, techs and other staff at NCH, then go outside to the community. NCH has already partnered with Collier County EMS and school nurses so they could train for emergencies.