Simulation training launched at Niagara Health
An unconscious 65-year-old man with significant facial injuries was quickly slipping away as a team of medical students worked to restore his breathing.
In the next room at St. Catharines hospital, Wednesday, the condition of a patient diagnosed with a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm continued to deteriorate until suffering a heart attack.
But despite the life-threatening conditions they faced, neither patient was in any danger. They were never alive to begin with.
For the first time, McMaster medical students training at Niagara Health hospitals had an opportunity to practise their skills in realistic scenarios, organized by the Development and Education in Simulation Interprofessional Group of Niagara (Design).
Although there has been a “thriving simulation program in Hamilton” for more than six years, St. Catharines emergency physician Dr. James Beecroft said simulation training is relatively new to Niagara’s hospitals.
But after determining educational programs already within the local hospital had resources available to make simulationtraining a reality, Beecroft said a committee was formed andto begin working towards organizing simulation events.
As a result of efforts, eight simulations were organized Wednesday during the hospital’s Simulation Kick-Off event — held as an open house “to give people an opportunity to see the things that are going on.”
Niagara Health president Dr. Suzanne Johnston hopes simulated learning opportunities become much more common at the local hospitals.
“It’s the perfect combination between practice and academia when you have this type of event happening, and it’s really exciting,” she said.
Although Niagara’s medical students have been able to attend training simulations in Hamilton in the past, Johnston said they no longer need to.
“We’ve got all that equipment right here to save us going down the road.”
Said Niagara Health chief of emergency medicine Dr. Rafi Setrak, “It’s awesome. It’s a great collaboration.”
While it is “expensive to put together and requires expertise, it requires money, it requires commitment and time,” Setrak said it is also “the future of education.”
The simulations also gave medical staff an opportunity to use new technology — such as using the Ontario Telemedicine Network to consult with a pediatric specialist from McMaster Children’s Hospital.
The technology was used as part of a simulation, while treating a six-year-old girl suffering from septic shock.
“This was one of our last dryruns,” Setrak said, adding he hopes the technology is in regular use for pediatric patients within the next few months.
“We need to make sure that it’s seamless when it goes live because you don’t want to distract from the treatment team. You want to add. If you put in something that you haven’t ironed out most of the kinks yet, it’ll actually be a distraction.”
Although using the telemedicine network has been in use for other specialties such as in the treatment of stroke patients, Setrak said the quality of the cameras and network connections is continuing to improve.
“While the technology has been there, it has definitely matured much more. Our understanding of how it fits into clinical work is also growing,” he said. “You need trail blazers and stroke (treatment) definitely have been.”
While emergency room physicians commonly consult with specialists by telephone, the telemedicine network allows the specialist to actually see the patient, and the monitors, and “to be virtually present in the room.”
“There are so many places we can take this,” he said. “It’s amazing. It makes me giddy.”
Johnston said the technology offers additional support for medical practitioners.
“When you work in areas where you’re maybe a lone practitioner and you need that support, it makes it easier even for us to recruit because they know they’ve got that support,” she said. “It’s pretty impressive.
What we have right now is the phone call. That’s still good, but this is even better.”
For the medical students, as well as an audience invited to watch, it was easy to forget the patients being treated were mannequins.
“That’s the idea,” said Dave Grant from Laerdal Medical, the Norwegian-based manufacturer of the high-tech mannequins. “It’s not supposed to be about this fancy mannequin. It’s about getting the team together.”
He said the mannequins — used in eight training simulations held as part of the first-time event organized in partnership between Niagara Health and McMaster University’s medical school — are “just meant to be a place holder for a real patient.”
“It’s just so that everyone can get into their role,” he said.