High-tech Mannequins Give Nurses Real-life Experience

In Texas, Central Texas Medical Center in San Marcos is the first of four hospitals in Central Texas to introduce the Sim Man 3G to healthcare employees. They received a grant from the RGK Foundation to establish a mobile simulation education program in conjunction with the F. Marie Hall SimLife Center.

The Sim Man G3 is usually operated by a lab technician or medical professional in a high-tech control room. A fully equipped, simulated-reality hospital room with four beds and patient monitors, a video monitoring system, and an observation and debriefing room for playing back recorded video allow students to gain hands-on experience through simulation training.

The simulation laboratory offers students real-life patient care scenarios and an opportunity to review their work after the simulation has ended. Depending on the facility, there can be a class of nursing students or staff members all working with the mannequin at a time, or a select group of students, with the rest of the class reviewing and watching.

Once the simulation is complete, the students or staff members go into a debriefing room, where they are able to watch a video and listen to recording of the session to see what was done wrong or right.