Simulation proving a worthwhile experience

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No classroom experience can fully prepare healthcare professionals for the first time they are confronted with a patient clinging to life.

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The high pressure environment of many people working feverishly together to keep a patient alive cannot be simulated by reading a textbook.
This is where Edith Cowan University’s Health Simulation Centre comes in.
Using a combination of high fidelity mannequins and trained actors, the centre can be configured to realistically replicate almost any situation doctors and nurses may encounter, from an operating theatre or hospital ward to a GP’s office or residential care environment.
Centre Director Claire Langdon said the aim was to make the scenarios used in training as realistic as possible.
“The Centre specialises in human factors training, which focuses on communication and optimising the effectiveness of teamwork in a clinical setting,” Professor Langdon said.
“We know that even the most highly trained professionals can make errors, particularly in high-stress emergency situations. By running realistic high fidelity simulations we can help each member of the team learn how to identify any errors to reduce their occurrence in real world situations.”
Professor Langdon said the feedback received from people who did the training was overwhelmingly positive.
“We have had even very experienced healthcare professionals come out of the training saying things like ‘wow, that felt incredibly realistic,” Professor Langdon said.
ECU recently acquired an inflatable tent that enables health simulation programs to be offered in rural and regional WA communities that don’t have simulation facilities.
The tent can be inflated in just two minutes and can be used to train health students and professionals for scenarios including oil rig explosions, train derailments and toxic chemical fires.
For the past four years ECU’s Health Simulation Centre has been delivering training for the WA Department of Health.
Run in conjunction with the Australia & New Zealand College of Anaesthetists and the Australasian College of Emergency Medicine, the training is run for anaesthetists, emergency physicians and other health professionals working in WA hospitals.
Visit ecu.edu.au/simulation for more information about the courses offered at the ECU Health Simulation Centre.