BRAND NEW TECH FOR HOSPITAL
Company supports families with innovative obstetrics equipment at hospital
Mannequins help train staff on care for newborns, mothers.
The Queen Elizabeth Hospital is now home to a new mother/ infant simulator, thanks to a $75,000 multi-year pledge from Amalgamated Dairies Limited (ADL).
The company represents over 165 PEI family-owned dairy farms and over 300 staff across the province.
Several ADL board members visited the QEH recently and saw the high-tech, interactive mannequins now available to train health care providers to make sure the best care possible is there for newborns and their mothers in the province.
“This is such a wonderful project to be a part of, knowing we are supporting the best possible outcomes for the thousand Island babies born every year,” says John Wood, ADL president.
“This is a perfect match for ADL, as we encourage families to be healthy by choosing milk products produced here in the province.”
The equipment consists of two patient simulators, a mother and baby. The hightech, interactive mannequins can replicate a range of realistic birthing scenarios that may arise in the delivery room. They can be programmed with varying vital signs such as fluctuations in blood pressure and heart rate and the equipment responds in real-time to the maneuvers and treatments of the staff or student.
“What this equipment gives us is a more highly skilled and confident staff,” says Kathy Larter, nurse manager.
“The equipment is used daily by new graduates, residents in training as well as staff who are upgrading their skills. We love it.”
Staff receives competencybased learning and proactive training during both routine and complicated delivery simulations and instructors can adjust the mannequins to introduce new challenges midscenarios.
“It’s much more realistic than anything we’ve used for training in the past,” says Nicole Walsh, RN, QEH obstetrical clinical nurse educator. “Staff can see immediately the impact of their decisions and actions.”
Ed Lawlor, chair of the QEH Foundation Board, acknowledges ADL’s donor support that enabled this technology to come to the Island.
“We appreciate what ADL has done to ensure the Island’s most vulnerable patients and their families can continue to receive high quality care here at home, in P.E.I.,” says Lawlor.
ADL has supported the QEH Foundation for 25 years and is recognized on the QEH Foundation Donor Wall at the Silver Level ($250,000$499,999).