Dummy is reason for learning
William Mornini
Issue date: 8/18/08 Section: Feature
It's an artificial human but can still get sick. The new Health Simulator is the nursing department's new teaching tool.
The Director of Nursing at Kirkwood Community College, Sandra Cooper, said the simulator will help respiratory therapy, medical assistant and paramedical students learn how to care for patients.
The state of the art simulator is as close as students can get to a real patient. The Health Simulator gives students the opportunity to gain knowledge while still having margin for error. Fully interactive and to scale, the simulator gives students hands on experience.
Since the simulator is connected to a computer students can actually see when they're making mistakes and know areas where they need to improve the most. The body of the simulator is a new way to effectively assess and evaluate a high fidelity simulation. When it comes to negative feed back about the simulator, Cooper said it's minimal. She said the students love the simulator and it's just the curriculum that has changed a little bit.
The idea for the simulator was originally developed by U.S. military doctors to help train military medical teams. Today, not just nursing students use the simulator, medical professionals worldwide optimize this tool.
The adult simulator is the first one Kirkwood purchased. Since the response was so positive, the college has purchased two more models. Cooper said Kirkwood has just bought a pediatric simulator and a wireless simulator.
Cooper added that the simulators are costly. Just one of the artificial human replicas can cost anywhere between $40,000 and $65,000.
The Director of Nursing at Kirkwood Community College, Sandra Cooper, said the simulator will help respiratory therapy, medical assistant and paramedical students learn how to care for patients.
The state of the art simulator is as close as students can get to a real patient. The Health Simulator gives students the opportunity to gain knowledge while still having margin for error. Fully interactive and to scale, the simulator gives students hands on experience.
Since the simulator is connected to a computer students can actually see when they're making mistakes and know areas where they need to improve the most. The body of the simulator is a new way to effectively assess and evaluate a high fidelity simulation. When it comes to negative feed back about the simulator, Cooper said it's minimal. She said the students love the simulator and it's just the curriculum that has changed a little bit.
The idea for the simulator was originally developed by U.S. military doctors to help train military medical teams. Today, not just nursing students use the simulator, medical professionals worldwide optimize this tool.
The adult simulator is the first one Kirkwood purchased. Since the response was so positive, the college has purchased two more models. Cooper said Kirkwood has just bought a pediatric simulator and a wireless simulator.
Cooper added that the simulators are costly. Just one of the artificial human replicas can cost anywhere between $40,000 and $65,000.
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