Getting another chance . . . thanks to robots

By Charlene Gordon, RN, Emergency Preparedness Manager at Huntsville (TX) Memorial Hospital

Ever have a patient go bad and just wish at the end of the day you could get a chance to replay it and fix what went wrong?

I just got done with a three-day WMD (weapons of mass destruction) course that had a robot for a victim. And this guy was so real, it was scary.

"The guy" was a manikin that blinked, had pupils that were reactive to light, and emitted pulses from every place a real person would. He made different heart sounds and different lung sounds (from rales to wheezing to rhonchi) while his chest rose and fell. He had an IV site that takes into account which drug you are pushing, how much you are giving, and how fast you are giving it! He responds by computer to all your interventions, including reading an exact Oxygen saturation to see if you are bagging correctly. (Don't push the versed too fast!)

Crashing him is okay . . . just re-boot and start all over again. With this one, you can play it again. And, what a learning experience it was! 

It would have been awesome for just basic assessments or regular ACLS (advanced cardiac life support), but this guy put ER nurses, ICU nurses, floor nurses, respiratory techs, and paramedics through their paces for a WMD treatment roundtable. We treated chemical emergencies, including viral and biological illnesses that were bad and getting worse.

The real beauty of the course was that several of the nurses have been around the emergency/ICU block a few times and were pretty sure this class was going to be a dud. They were one wound up bunch of nurses after three days. They loved it! This guy is spooky real and it really feels like he is dying, but unlike ACLS, where you alone have to answer, the group cooperates just like a real crashing patient.

The class really helped to prepare us to understand these complicated patients during a critical time where hesitation or a wrong choice could mean life or death for them. I just wish every nurse and all healthcare professionals could take this course every year. This was a great experience!

Don't you wish you could get another chance sometimes?