Courtesy Photo
Staff at the hospital go through a training session with the HAL patient simulator, from lower left, UNMC 3rd year med student Phil Holuback, Tami Bartels, RN, Michelle Pursley, RN, Dr. David Younger and locum physician Dr. Matthew Beal.
Patient simulator gives staff real life experiences
Chase County Community Hospital, in a partnership with Mid-Plains Community College, is able to give its nurses, CNAs and providers additional real life training with access to a HAL patient simulator.
Shannon Kuhlmann, the hospital’s Chief Nursing Officer, said CCCH was the first of hospitals in the area to utilize HAL for three weeks ending a few days ago.
MPCC owns the HAL equipment, but contracted with hospitals in the area to utilize it a minimum of three weeks each year for a minimal fee, she said.
HAL simulates a near infinite number of clinical presentations and responses and supports the use of real patient monitors and sensors for situational training.
As an example, HAL can be placed in the ER, reporting chest pain. The staff then can take the steps to address the medical issue, with actual responses from the patient simulator.
Staff can practice scenarios dealing with diabetic ketoacidosis, opioid overdose, pulmonary embolisms, racing hearts, heart attacks and more.
The HAL simulator allows staff members to listen to all different aspects such as heart, lung, palpate pulses and bowel sounds. They can practice starting IV’s, I/O’s, chest tubes, needle decompression, tracheostomy, intubating, using ventilators, catheters, monitored CPR with feedback vitals and EKGs.
Besides breathing with an audible heartbeat, he talks, blinks and his pupils dilate along with simulating cyanosis and visible seizures.
A large screen monitor displays his current and changing blood pressure, heart rates and rhythms, O2 saturation and respirations, she said.
During training scenarios he codes and staff can connect him to pads and actually shock him, she added.
“The staff has loved the opportunity to use him in various scenarios,” Kuhlmann said.
She expressed appreciation to MPCC for reaching out to the area hospitals for the use of HAL.
“There is no way as a small, critical access hospital that we could afford this on our own,” she said.
Kuhlmann is the leadership team member who attended all the training for the program and is organizing and managing the testing and training sessions, said Shawn Jaeger, the hospital’s Foundation and Marketing Coordinator.