N.C. College Gets New Ambulance Simulator

Feb. 22--ELIZABETH CITY, N.C.—Emergency medicine instructor Mildred Weaver activated the lifelike, 200-pound mannequin in the back of the new ambulance simulator at College of The Albemarle.

She had also powered up another mannequin lying on a stretcher in the labjust outside. It was the first time her class would get to use the mannequins and simulator together, and they learned quickly, programming life signs into the human-shaped device.

"Does he have a carotid pulse?" Weaver asked.

A quick "yes" came from the mannequin on the stretcher, startling a few students nearby. Student Theodore Foresythe, with a slight smile, had made it respond using the companion computer.

The college acquired the simulator two weeks ago -- a $50,000 ambulance that looks like the real thing and carries all the necessary equipment. Emergency lights flash like it's responding to a highway accident.

Together with the mannequins, it will give students their most realistic emergency training experience yet, said Samuel Mickey, the college's EMS education coordinator.

"We're putting them in an environment like they were on the street," he said.

Medical mannequins continue to get more realistic. They talk, breathe, have heart beats and blink their eyes. One at the college last week said, "Go away, I feel better now," then followed it up with, "I've never had pain like this before."

The manikins can regurgitate liquid. The tongue can swell. Breathing can be labored or shallow. The airway can entirely close. It can receive an IV. The eyes open and close. In fact, one eye can stay open and the other close like it has stroke symptoms, a reaction than can be unnerving even with a manikin.

"Don't let that scare you," Weaver told her class.

A computer senses and records the students' procedures, such as chest compressions and defibrillation. The mannequin will die if the treatment isn't right.

"We can reinforce what they did right and they can learn from experience what they did wrong," Mickey said.

Ambulance simulators may be the next big thing. They were first developed in 1999 because new EMTs didn't get enough experience in the cramped spaces of real carriers, said Cory Brown, chief operating officer for Rescue Simulation Products International, which has sold about 300 in countries including in Russia and Saudi Arabia.

They could become mandatory for emergency training in the next few years, he said.

"We're selling 30 a year now," he said.

Mickey worked in emergency medicine more than 40 years ago, back when Pasquotank County used refurbished funeral hearses for ambulances. Back then, training was minimal and not as realistic. Ambulance rides were just a quick transport to the emergency room, Mickey said.

"It was you call, we haul," Mickey said. "With some care."

The Albemarle students will log 272 hours of class, lab and field work over five months, with the simulator as a crucial part of their training, Mickey said.

Student Shelby Kehl of Gates County grew up hearing her father's stories about emergency calls. His work inspired her to get into the field, and she said the lifelike training will help her when she responds to her first call.

"This is cool," she said.

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