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Third-year anesthesia resident Mark Weber faced a
difficult challenge.
While providing anesthesia, the patient's blood pressure
dropped sharply. Weber administered the appropriate drug to
correct the blood pressure problem, only to be met by
another crisis when the patient unexpectedly developed an
abrupt elevation of heart rate known as supraventricular
tachycardia.
Weber reacted quickly and decisively, administering the
appropriate drugs to correct the problem. Once again, he had
saved the patient from a life-threatening event.
Most students in medical education would not have the
opportunity for such real-life interaction with a patient,
but Weber was not dealing with a live patient at all. He was
interacting with a machine-a plastic mannequin, equipped
with sensors, circuits, tubes, and pumps that simulates the
physiologic reactions of a real patient.
This anatomically realistic, adult-sized mannequin is now
being used by the Department of Anesthesia to train
anesthesiologists, residents, medical students, and other
health care professionals.
"The value of the patient simulator as a teaching tool
cannot be overstated," said David Brown, MD, professor and
head of the Department of Anesthesia. "The technology allows
us to create and reproduce both routine and emergency
situations in a controlled environment without any risk to
human life."
Controlled by a computer, the patient simulator can be
programmed to mimic a wide range of conditions that might
affect patients in an operating room. Chest sounds and
movement, pulse, pupil reaction, blood pressure, and
neurologic responses are a few of the simulator's lifelike
features.
In addition, airway management skills such as intubation
and mask ventilation can be performed and chest tubes can be
inserted.
Ann Perino, MD, assistant professor of anesthesia and
director of the Human Patient Simulator Program, said the
system's use for medical education and research purposes is
extensive. "The technology is so adaptable that its
potential for education is limited only by our
imaginations," she said.
The advanced system is one of only a few in the Midwest,
with about 50 in existence worldwide.
For more information about the patient simulator, call
the toll-free UI Health Access number, 1-800-777-8442, and
ask for Ann Perino, MD.
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