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'Patient' aids nursing students
Nursing students are attending to a new patient this semester.
 His name is Larry, and he’s been through a lot. Lying on the table, he occasionally groans, “I don’t feel good.” He’s been poked, prodded, stabbed, had wounds dressed, gone into cardiac arrest and was administered CPR. His resilience, however, is due in large part to his manufacturer. He’s a life-size, high-tech simulated patient mannequin known as SimMan.
Nursing professor Debra Brady conducts clinical classes in which her students work directly with the simulated patient.
“SimMan’s name changes daily,” says Brady. “Today his name is Larry. A while Fall enrollment up ago it was Mel Gibson.”
Brady can, with a click of a mouse, have Larry say things such as, “No, I don’t have diabetes,” or “I am not allergic to any medications.” His chest rises and falls with each breath he takes.
“It’s a highly effective teaching tool for the students,” Brady says. “My teaching time is really maximized because they live the experience, instead of hearing about it in a lecture. It gives them valuable clinical experience, and they can make mistakes without doing the patient any harm.”
After the students administer care and the simulated patient is stabilized, they gather around a white board for a debriefing of the situation. The strengths and weaknesses of the treatment are analyzed, and the students discuss what could have been done differently to provide better care.
The simulated patient is new this year due to increased funding to admit more students and enhance their lab experiences. The nursing program is highly competitive and has an exceptional graduation rate—95 percent.
Larry, for one, appreciates the excellent care he gets from the students. “Thank you,” he says. “That helped.”
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