The patients in Room 2D-6 of the Hilo Medical Center blink and bleed. ADVERTISING The patients in Room 2D-6 of the Hilo Medical Center blink and bleed. They have heartbeats and they throw up. Employees at HMC say these special
The patients in Room 2D-6 of the Hilo Medical Center blink and bleed.
They have heartbeats and they throw up.
Employees at HMC say these special patients helped save thousands of lives during the past several years.
They just aren’t real.
The patients are simulators, used to help hospital staff and groups such as the Hawaii Fire Department’s paramedics run through medical training scenarios.
After more than eight years of use, the simulation center received a formal blessing Tuesday from kahu Kimo Awai. It also received a formal dedication in honor of Dr. Judith FitzGerald, whose contributions to Room 2D-6 range from teaching classes there to purchasing training mannequins such as SimJunior by taking out a second mortgage.
SimJunior cost about $50,000 and rounded out the mannequin team, which had two adults and two infant simulators. But there was nothing for practicing scenarios involving children.
“It’s really hard to imagine that baby as an 8-year-old,” FitzGerald said.
Grant writing, one of the main ways to secure funds for new equipment, is a slow process and FitzGerald didn’t want trainees to have to wait.
“Patience is not my strong suit,” she said.
Dan Brinkman, Hawaii Health Systems Corp. East Hawaii regional CEO, said during Tuesday’s ceremony — where a dedication plaque noting FitzGerald’s contributions was unveiled — that he was honored to attach FitzGerald’s name to the simulation center. Any conversation with her revealed her passion for the lab, he said.
“People can talk and do, but some put their own resources (in),” he said.
FitzGerald, in turn, pointed out the efforts of registered nurses Lori Wong, simulation specialist, and Arthur Sampaga, the center’s director, who wrote the first grant for a mannequin simulator in 2007.
“We wouldn’t have a lab without him,” she said. “My name may be going on the lab, but this is a collaborative effort.”
Wong and Sampaga also received dedication plaques.
“We didn’t expect those,” a surprised Wong said to the gathered crowd.
The lab initially was started through a Department of Defense grant and a partnership with the John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. In the first year, Sampaga said, the collaborators prepared a journal paper demonstrating that practicing on mannequins saved lives.
“It’s a better experience because it’s not regurgitation (of information),” FitzGerald said. Students have to actually respond to the mannequins, which is more stressful but also more akin to real-life scenarios.
FitzGerald also is the medical director for the Fire Department, whose 66 paramedics all train in the simulation center.
When paramedics come for training, “the pressure’s on,” said HFD Battalion Chief Lance Uchida. “They’re studying, they’re practicing.”
Sampaga said he hopes to expand training so it can take place outside the lab, too. The newer mannequins are wireless and can be taken out of the building. In the future, training scenarios could begin inside an ambulance and incorporate transfers to the emergency room.
After a recent simulator training session about advanced cardiac life support, FitzGerald was working a shift with one of her students. A patient came in requiring the exact care the student just rehearsed using the simulators.
“He was so excited,” FitzGerald recalled.
Email Ivy Ashe at iashe@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
