Simulation Education
Simulation education has given the old adage ‘practice makes perfect’ new meaning. What better way to learn core skills, like taking blood pressure, intubating a newborn, using a defibrillator or resuscitating a patient than with simulators that mimic the functions and controls of the human body?
Simulation education is the latest, state-of-the-art approach to on-the-job training. Simulators play an important role in providing the best possible care for children. A patient simulator is a life sized, computerized mannequin that has incredibly realistic anatomy and clinical functions. Patient simulators can cry, blink and breathe; they have audible heart sounds and palpable pulses. Patient simulators are used because they can imitate patient conditions and provide hospital staff, including trainees, an opportunity to practice medical interventions in a safe learning environment.
Simulation provides the team including doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists and students with a chance to participate in hands-on training without any risk to patients. Using a patient simulator, an instructor can reproduce various scenarios from basic patient interactions to life-threatening critical situations.
Simulation allows the team to practice new skills, make errors and learn from their mistakes without harming patients. The patient simulators used at SickKids are so advanced that they can even be programmed to react to medication, including the type of drug and the dose given.
Simulation education is the perfect way to practice skills in the safety and innovative environment of a make-believe learning lab.