New patient simulator manikin checks in at DRHC

The Dauphin Regional Health Centre (DRHC) has been paging patient Manny Quinn lately. However, this particular patient is actually a state-of-the-art simulator/manikin that is now in use at the health centre thanks to a generous contribution from the Dauphin Hospital Foundation and Dauphin Health Care Auxiliary.

Dr. Scott Kish says the Apollo Pre-Hospital simulator was purchased for the Family Medicine Residency Program and will be used for hands on learning and medical training exercises. Dr. Kish says this will allow the simulation of multiple conditions and patient crisis situations that can occur over the course of time in hospital.

“It will allow the learners (resident physicians, nurses, doctors, ambulance personnel, respiratory therapists etc.) the chance to practice life-saving skills in real time, but on a model. The value of this is that the simulator can provide real time feedback and the scenario can be changed to reflect different patient conditions,” Kish stated.

Dr. Kish added that ideally, a regular schedule will be developed for running scenarios within the health centre so that health-care providers within hospital wards can develop practice in these settings too.

“I also hope to have our local trainers for Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) receive training on the model, as they can use the model to demonstrate electrical heart rhythms and life-saving skills, such as cardioversion,” Dr. Kish said.

The approximate value of the overall purchase was over $50,000.

Dauphin Regional Health Centre Director Curt Gullett sincerely thanked both the Foundation and Auxiliary for their commitment to the project.