02/21/2018

SIM Center Offers Critical Training, looks to expand offsite functionality soon

More than 1,000 Wentworth-Douglass Hospital staff members, clinicians and community-based emergency medical service providers have benefited from hands-on experience in replicated real-life medical situations since the Wentworth-Douglass Simulation Center opened in 2016 – thanks in large part to donations made to the Wentworth-Douglass Foundation.

“Simulation offers an effective way to enhance patient safety and improve clinical outcomes,” says Julie A. Cole, MSN, RN-BC, CPN, Clinical Educator, Nursing Education Research and Innovation (NERI) team at WDH. “Simulation is an effective educational platform for innovative learning for high-risk diagnoses, low-volume procedures and scenarios in a safe learning environment.  It allows us to run real-life surgical and critical care training for a wide range of adult, pediatric and obstetrical clinical scenarios.”

The Simulation Center is used nearly every day to keep WDH’s staff up to date with practice changes, policy changes and safety initiatives. So far, WDH nurses, nursing assistants, respiratory care therapists, medical providers and community-based emergency medical service providers, including the Dover Fire Department have participated in more than 180 simulations.

In March, NERI added audiovisual equipment to broaden its education and training with the capability to do video production and broadcasting, helping to extend the lesson beyond in-person simulation.

“Simulations provide a safe, supportive environment in which we can mimic actual patient care situations and record the participants’ actions and discussions. The most valuable part of simulation instruction occurs after the activity, when the entire team is led through a debriefing by a well-trained educator viewing their interactions and identifying improvement opportunities,” says Kate Collopy, PhD, RN, Director, NERI.

Currently the Center has three high-fidelity, physiologically-based mannequins, “Metiman,” “PediaSim” and “Lucina”—a  multi-functional female mannequin that allows practice with numerous obstetrical emergency and critical care scenarios. With the help of donors, the SIM Center would like to acquire an infant high-fidelity mannequin.  This new mannequin would be used primarily by the Emergency Department and at Express Care locations – expanding the reach of the Simulation Center.