Pediatric simulators add value to training
Imagine you're racing to stabilize a baby in danger of cardiac arrest. The infant is having trouble breathing. Bells and alarms are going off. The seconds tick away as the child's condition continues to worsen.
Now imagine creating that same sense of urgency using a computer simulator that functions in real-time — that's the value of the new high-fidelity pediatric simulators available at Children's.
The training addresses issues of high-risk and patient safety. The equipping of the sim lab was made possible through federal funds as well as generous philanthropic support from the Patrick and Beatrice Haggerty Foundation and the Women's Auxiliary to Children's.
The realistic "sim" baby, child and adult will become the mainstays of a new high-tech simulation center on the sixth floor of the Dallas Pavilion, which is slated to open in 2009. The center will also include four new Basic Life Support (BLS) mannequins so personnel at Children's can certify or re-certify in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on-site.
The 3,000-square-foot simulation lab, the only one of its kind for a pediatric hospital in Texas, will house two team training rooms that recreate intensive care unit and inpatient settings. The rooms will feature mannequin simulators hooked up to medical monitors, audiovisual equipment and computers pre-programmed with emergency scenarios.
In addition to the BLS equipment, there will be skill stations with task training simulators for IV starts, chest tubes and other procedures, as well as classrooms for debriefings after computer simulations.
Karen Norton, RN, clinical manager for the OR at Children's, works on a high-fidelity pediatric simulator known as the "sim" baby during a mock code.
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