Model ‘patients’

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This article was published 27/05/2021 (1736 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

FRANCIS can blink, talk and even bleed, but he’s a training tool, not a human.

The high-tech mannequin is one of several the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service is using to let emergency crews practise life-saving treatments repeatedly with no risk to real patients.

“(Paramedics) literally come into what looks like somebody’s home and interact with this life-like patient that either talks or chokes or bleeds… and then they can assess the patient,” said Todd Reid, director of paramedic education and training for the WFPS. “The beauty of it is they can use trial and error, they can make mistakes and… in the end, no patients are harmed. It’s a good learning environment for everybody.”

Projections onto training room walls can make such scenes more realistic. Rescuers may also see blood spurt forward, notice a “patient’s” face turn blue, or cope with people acting as bystanders. This makes practice sessions reflect real-world conditions as much as possible, said Reid.

“The mannequin might talk or moan or yell in pain… I think traditionally (with more basic, immobile mannequins) telling somebody that (a patient is) bleeding or there’s blood spurting when that’s not really happening, it doesn’t really portray the real emotions they’re going to have with that or the real urgency of that,” he said.

The city acquired its current collection of mannequins for simulation training as of 2020, which includes three adults, one youth and a pregnant woman who can “deliver” a mannequin baby.

Each of them is operated remotely by computers and has its own vital signs.

Reid said the technology allows paramedics to try out treatments for less common conditions many times in a short period, such as helping a woman cope with a high-risk child birth or tending to a critically ill or wounded child.

“There are a lot of calls we do that I would say are high-risk, but they’re low volume. They don’t happen very often. A paramedic may only see that type of call a couple of times a year or even a couple of times in their career. So, it’s very hard to be practised and experienced with those types of calls, just by seeing real patients… All of those (practices) parlay into less medical error and safer patient contacts,” said Reid.

The city says the “high-fidelity” mannequins range in price from $35,000 to $100,000 each and were bought over a few years.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga