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“Hello, Chancellor Meehan. What does a guy have to do to get his own space around here?” Unhappy to share his lab with a new addition, Lowell G. Sims demanded answers from the top.
Chancellor Meehan responded “We’re doing what we can, just hang in there.”
He wasn’t talking with a new faculty member, but bantering with an adult patient simulator who needs to share his digs with a new arrival – six-month-old SimBaby.
Assoc. Prof. of Nursing Jacqueline Dowling received a $48,000 grant for the high-tech baby from the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education's Nursing and Allied Health Education Initiative following on the heels of the award of SimMan last fall. Lowell General Hospital, a partner on both grants, donated medical equipment, a stretcher and an infant warming table for the new Patient Simulation Laboratory in Weed Hall, the Sim Family’s new home.
The adult simulator is being used to teach students to respond to realistic health scenarios. Now with SimBaby, students have a unique way to learn how to care for infants.
“This is as close as it gets before working on a human,” says Dowling. “Babies are very different from adults, so with the adult and baby in the same room, students will quickly understand the differences and learn how to respond quickly.”
Soon, the new Patient Simulation Laboratory will be outfitted with a two-way mirror and videotaping capabilities, tools that will help students critique their performances.
“It’s really amazing to see students almost forget that it’s not human,” says Joanne Dupuis who, as director of the Nursing Simulation and Skills Laboratories, teaches faculty members how to use the equipment. “We already see students’ skills and confidence improving.”
Nursing professors create patient cases that mirror situations nursing students will encounter in the real world. Professors control the actions of the simulators using a computer while watching students react to changing vital signs. The simulator’s heart rate and pulse may increase, it might breathe fast, shout in pain or cry. Or it just talks.
As Chancellor Meehan turned away from SimMan to visit with SimBaby, he heard, “I want to talk to you about a few things. I have some great ideas.” Laughing, Meehan replied, “Write me an email.”