An unknown 26-year old male was dropped off at the Yass Hospital suffering a heart attack, the nursing staff on duty immediately began working on the patient, administering CPR and applying Defibrillation.
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Calls were made to the doctor, as the nurses continued to work on the young man.
On orders from the doctor, two nurses administered adrenalin while a nursing student was called to assist in the CPR. As they injected the second dose of adrenalin, the monitors showed the mans vitals beginning to respond, the male began to cough and choke, able to breathe on his own again.
All three nurses and the doctor breathed a sigh of relief — their training simulation was over.
Last week was the first time the Yass Hospital hosted two days of Education by Web-based Innovative Simulation and E learning model (EdWISE) training, a project funded under the Health Workforce Australia (HWA) and designed to provide a simulated learning environment.
The project included a simulation with a high-fidelity mannequin, used as a teaching tool, and was hands-on training conducted in emergency departments by local clinical educators; they were supported by instructors and simulation coordinators, participating via video-conferencing.
Clinical Nurse Educator of the Yass Hospital, Katherine Blake, was the organiser behind bringing this unique opportunity to the emergency department staff and students in the local area.
“It makes the training as real as possible without actually working on a real human being. The technology is phenomenal, simulating anything in advanced acute cardiac issues," she said "It is all controlled by the educators in sydney who are there in the room via videoconference and they are able to control the rate of breathing, heart rate, type of breathing, ability to respond to medication that is administered, as well as create a verbal response to things. You can talk to the mannequin like you would a living patient and it is able to respond.”
The program is used to reduce the need for instructors, staff and students to travel off-site to access simulation based learning. By involving local ED teams as instructors and situate learning within the workplace. The education available through EdWISE aims to be contextually relevant to individual hospital’s needs.
“It is a remarkable piece of equipment that allows us here in a rural hospital like Yass to undertake in vigorous training without having to travel. They send all the equipment onsite free of charge, and give us the opportunity to access equipment that rural communities just don’t have,” she continued.
“It can be difficult working in a small community because it’s not just another patient, it’s your neighbours, friends and people that you see every day, which in itself adds impetus to make us want to do better.”