Once upon a time nurses practiced giving shots by using oranges. Thanks to innovative technology,
Baptist Memorial Health Care offers its healthcare professionals the opportunity to engage in realistic scenarios in the state-of-the-art simulation lab.
Less than a year ago, Baptist Memorial Hospital opened the
Simulation Center for Clinical Excellence at the Walnut Grove campus. “Health care professionals in all stages of their career can come here to demonstrate their competency, learn new procedures, learn how to operate new equipment,” said Judy Bedard, director of nursing staff development.
Medical and technical procedures are not all that are taught at the center. Medical personnel who go through training at the center also learn how to communicate more effectively with patients. “This is a no-fail environment,” said Bedard. “This is not a gotcha area. This center is here to help them (medical professionals)
grow as professionals.”
They have nearly 40 simulation mannequins at the center. They fall within three categories: low fidelity, which is similar to mannequins used in CPR classes; medium fidelity, which has heart, lung, and bowel sounds; and high-fidelity or the SimMan 3Gs, which can communicate, respond to medications, and have other bodily functions similar to human beings. At the Baptist Memorial Hospital Women’s Center, there’s a pregnant simulation mannequin who actually gives birth.
Bedard said that her mission for the center, one all the employees of the center
embraces as well, is that there is no pretending at the center. Everything, even the equipment and medications, are just as they would be in the hospital environment. “The important thing is that they’re not learning on a patient.”
Rosalind Guy spoke with Judy Bedard, the director of nursing staff development for Baptist Memorial Health Care, about the lab and plans for the future.
How innovative is this center compared to what’s taking place in healthcare around the country right now?
We really feel like we have one of the premiere simulation centers in the country. And, that’s based on the feedback that we’ve gotten from hospitals. The more people that we have come in, the more we realize that we really do have a gem, and that we really are setting the pace for hospitals across the country.
What makes the center so spectacular?
When you walk into this environment, everything is exactly like it would be when you walk into a patient room. That’s what a lot of people don’t get. They get focused on the mannequin, but it’s also the patient environment. It’s everything the patient experiences, does and says.
You mentioned that sometimes the staff perform as actors in the scenarios; do you have plans to bring in real actors?
Right now, we have some really good actors. Occasionally, we may need an additional man or something, and we’ll get him from the hospital. In the future, we do plan to become more elaborate and offer seminars, not just at our Baptist hospitals, and do more filming. So, we’ve discussed possibly going to the University of Memphis to see if it’s possible for some of their students to come over for some extra credit.
Other plans?
Last month we were contacted by the physician residents for the University of Tennessee who come to our hospital to train. They want to begin to use the center, and we’re beginning to train them. We’ve gone through about six training sessions so far, training them on communication skills, how to deal with patients who are anxious, and how to deal with disruptive behavior. They’re going to start coming in at least once a month.
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