NCH Healthcare System uses high-tech mannequins in its Simulation Center to train and educate staff members so they're prepared for real-life scenarios.
One mannequin's name is Bob. The high-fidelity mannequin at the NCH Judith & Marvin Herb Family Simulation Center operates off of 3G, and mimics live patients to enhance staff education.
"He is very, very realistic," Hope Goodwin, a nurse and the Operations Manager at the Simulation Center, said. "He has audible heart sounds with a stethoscope, lung sounds, he has bowel sounds, he can urinate, he can sweat, he can foam at the mouth."
You can also feel Bob's pulse. Bob can be intubated and put on a ventilator. Staff can practice giving him an IV and it'll feel just like it does on a real patient. Bob sweats and cries. His tongue and lips can swell. If you shine a light in Bob's eyes, his pupils constrict. Nurses and providers will use that for neurological testing.
"He can vomit. He can pretty much recreate any scenario that that you can see in the hospital, so it's a fantastic resource for learning," Goodwin said.
Bob is controlled using computers in a control room.
“We can also manipulate his heart rhythm, his O2 levels, his pulses, his temperatures. Everything that you would normally need to look on a patient monitor, we can do right from this right from this area," Julio Irizarry, the Simulation Tech Specialist, said from the control room. "We can have him answer basic questions."
He said they can also set up a scenario where Bob needs CPR, and he can see in the control room if the staff member is doing it right.
Goodwin said they're getting a birthing mannequin so they can practice those types of scenarios. The Simulation Center also just got a 27-week preterm baby simulator named Paul, so they can train staff to care for micro-preemies.
