WVU Parkersburg patient simulator provides unique training opportunities

October 31, 2008

WVU Parkersburg Nursing lab "patient" to be featured in "Grey's Anatomy" episode.

CONTACT: Rose Beebe, chair of Health Sciences Division, 304-424-8286.

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Media Advisory: Stan is available for a simulation training demonstration. Contact Connie Dziagwa at WVU Parkersburg, 304-424-8203, to schedule.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Nursing students at West Virginia University at Parkersburg will recognize the guest star on the next television episode of "Grey's Anatomy."   They should: he stars in their lab sessions as well.

Stan, an advanced patient interactive simulator, will be featured on Thursday's (Nov. 6) episode of "Grey’s Anatomy."   The show's medical staff will treat Stan for a gunshot wound.

WVU Parkersburg is the first Nursing program in West Virginia to purchase the human patient simulation model and among the first 200 institutions worldwide to add Stan to their instructional training strategies.  WVU Parkersburg offers an Associate in Applied Science degree in nursing.

The wireless technology which makes Stan so effective emulates nearly perfect humanlike characteristics in emergency situations from massive bodily injury and drug overdoses to a heart attack and allergic reactions. Stan’s human patient simulation technology not only mimics symptoms but also responds directly to treatment administered by trainees including oxygen, intravenous drugs and defibrillation -- all without the aid of an instructor -- bringing real life emergency scenarios to the training field.

“The stress in a training session in our Nursing lab is very real with Stan,” said Rose Beebe, chair of WVU Parkersburg's Health Sciences Division. “Since Stan responds directly to their actions, students are not only learning technical skills but are exposed to the high-pressure of saving a life in an emergency situation."
The $100,000 simulator and training scenario software is an integral part of WVU Parkersburg's nursing curriculum. Instructors program various emergency scenarios which students are then challenged to recognize according to the simulator’s actions.

"High tech simulation training is becoming an increasingly important part of nursing education, giving nursing students opportunities to practice all aspects of patient care," Mrs. Beebe noted.
Stan comes equipped with true-to-life features such as blinking of the eyes, real breath, lung, and heart sounds and chest expansion. The neck, arms, spine, and hips can move with life-like accuracy, and his skin looks and feels like human skin.
Before patient simulation, healthcare trainees were restricted to practicing on lifeless mannequins and often put into the field with technical knowledge, but limited firsthand experience. Simulation provides a lifelike, interactive and visual solution to train health care professionals in times of emergency, Ms. Beebe noted.

Because Stan is computerized, he can demonstrate positive outcomes when students follow proper standards of care or demonstrate adverse outcomes when students fail to follow appropriate nursing standards.

"This can provide wonderful opportunities for learning," Mrs. Beebe noted. "What better place for a student to learn from their mistakes than in the safety and comfort of a skills laboratory, with the additional opportunity to critique his/her performance?"

Human patient simulation technology is used by leading healthcare educational institutions to train doctors and nurses; U.S. troops in Iraq to train for biological warfare and combat injuries, and by Homeland Security to equip emergency personnel with the skills needed to deal with weapons of mass destruction and bio-terrorism.