Cal-Ore Life Flight has become the first ambulance company in the region to have its own Human Physiologic Simulator (HPS) training facility, with the acquisition of an adult HPS (SimMan) and infant HPS (SimBaby) manikin. The latest in advanced training tools for paramedics, nurses, physicians, and other medical personnel

Human Physiologic Simulators (HPS) are high-tech manikins that, through the magic of computers and compressors, can be programmed to breathe, talk, have heart attacks or become critically ill at the click of a mouse!

“Nine of our nurses and medics have undergone instructor training to run and program both manikins. The manikins are already in service training Cal-Ore Life Flight air medical and ground ambulance crews.” reported Joe Gregorio, Cal-Ore Life Flight’s General Manager.

According to Gregorio, the manikins come preprogrammed with patient scenarios that simulate a common problem such as chest pain or difficulty breathing. Because the manikin talks, generates a heart rhythm, breath sounds, and pulses, nurses and medics start with a basic assessment of the manikin, just as they would a real patient. The nurses and medics do not know where the computerized scenario will take them, so they must interact with the ‘patient’ in the moment, making interventions based on their assessment of the presenting complaint and current patient condition. Some scenarios are problematic, with patients developing dire, life-threatening complications.  All scenarios are designed to reproduce on demand those clinical situations that, heretofore, the staff could only see in a real patient. This means the staff can practice intervening for real problems in real patients using their usual medical equipment in a controlled environment, and gain the skills needed to care for the patient before actually having to do it on a real human.

If the nurse or medic does not make the correct intervention, the computer will sense the failure and the ‘patient’ will continue to deteriorate.

Skills training can be common skills – like starting an IV or taking blood pressure, or they can be complex, such as shocking a patient out of a lethal heart rhythm with a defibrillator or inserting a breathing tube. In the past, students only had access to training on a live human being at the time the event occurred. With an HPS manikin, a student can practice the skill 100 times before ever seeing it or having to respond to it on a real person.

With SimBaby, the only infant HPS manikin in Del Norte County, the nurses and medics have access to on-demand training in the skills necessary to care for critically ill or injured children, situations not commonly seen in this county.

 “Because of our voluntary accreditation with the Commission of Accreditation for Medical Transport Systems (CAMTS), we have assumed the obligation to train our staff to a standard that surpasses the requirements we previously needed to meet under our Oregon and California licensure. With the purchase of these manikins, we will be able to easily meet these standards.” Gregorio said.