Mobile unit helping health staff move on
Training simulator
A new hi-tech‘Mobile Skills Unit’ (MSU) for training health practitioners in Scotland’s remote and rural areas has been launched at Forth Valley Royal Hospital.
Cabinet Secretary for Health Jeane Freeman was shown the £265,000 vehicle, which contains a host of advanced clinical simulation features, enabling staff to learn the latest in emergency care, wherever they are based. It updates a vehicle that has successfully toured Scotland for the last decade.
Ms Freeman said: “It’s essential that wherever you are a patient in Scotland, you can be treated to the highest standards. As thinking and technology develops, we need to be make sure our NHS staff are able to build on their skills. Together with online learning and telemedicine, the team have trained over 9,000 staff on the unit in the last decade.”
Features include: adult, child and baby simulators that talk, breathe and have heart sounds; digital backgrounds to simulate different health and social care environments; briefing and debriefing area; flexible layout; silent generator; and solar panels.
The MSU spends one to two weeks at 18 different venues in Scotland each year. A variety of skills can be taught onboard, depending on the needs of the staff in the local area. These range from immediate life support for trauma victims, airway management, suturing and multi-agency emergency scenarios. It can also be used to train the public using simulation, for example the Heartstart programme for CPR and defribrillators, carers training and in multi-agency exercises.