Maine hospital opens simulation center

The next generation of doctors and nurses, and their patients, will have a huge advantage. Today, Maine Medical Center officially opens a $5.8 million, state-of-the-art simulation center at its Brighton Avenue campus.

Since this summer, the center has been using lifelike mannequins to simulate all kinds of medical problems, from irregular heartbeats to clogged arteries. Residents and medical students can practice everything from inserting breathing tubes to saving trauma and burn victims.

"(The mannequins) breathe, they bleed, they wheeze, they can have allergic reactions," said Dr. John "Randy" Darby, the hospital's director of medical simulation. "We have mannequins that deliver babies and have heart attacks."