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NEWS
| November 10, 2004
Nursing
School unveils emergency care simulator
Jack, a dummy, can mimic health
conditions that humans experience.
By Nicole
Audet
Contributor to The Shorthorn
Jack may look like a lifeless doll, but
this 71-pound, blinking, breathing machine is no dummy.
The School of Nursing is displaying its newest emergency care simulator
at the technology fair from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the University Center
Bluebonnet Ballroom.
Dean Elizabeth Poster offered the naming rights to the first donor
of $60,000 to the school — that is the cost of the dummy.
Simulation technician Roger Woods said Jack allows students to access
a patient, use their critical thinking skills and make diagnoses.
Not too long ago, student nurses had to get their hands-on training
by using real patients, he said.
“The greatest advantage to making a mistake on Jack is that
they don’t harm a real patient, and they learn from their
mistake just as they would in a real medical setting,” he
said. “The student nurses will become more proficient, which
will enhance their employment potential and capability.”
Junior I-level nursing students are able to work with Jack about
twice a week. Prior to the students’ arrival, Woods sets the
simulator to whatever condition the faculty wishes for that day
of training. Such conditions that Jack could experience are a heart
attack, having too high or too low blood pressure, having variable
pulse rate, being in a lower level of consciousness or even having
the symptoms of a chest wound (Jack can experience conditions such
as hypertension, hypotension, variable pulse rate, low consciousness
levels or even chest wound symptoms).
Melinda Hart and Jill Moser are two Junior I nursing students who
work with Jack.
Hart said working with the patient simulator has been very helpful
for her.
“We get to hear lung and heart sounds that are abnormal that
we wouldn’t hear on each other during lab practice or we may
not get to hear in a hospital,” she said.
All of this is made possible through a series of intricate tubes
and wires, delicately placed throughout Jack, allowing the fluids
to be carried to the appropriate locations, Woods said.
The differences between Jack and last year’s tech fair winner,
the patient simulator called SimMan, are that Jack can blink, looks
more realistic and has a pulse in the feet and legs.
“The blinking is the weirdest part,” Moser said.
She agrees with Hart in that working with the simulator can improve
her nursing skills tremendously.
“It helps the ear recognize differences in abnormalities before
you even go to a hospital,” Moser said.
Students, faculty and staff anticipate another win with their newest
addition.
Woods said this shows people what the School of Nursing is doing
with its money and what they offer their students.
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