From Deseret News archives:

Simulator baby adds realism to training

Published: Friday, Feb. 8, 2008 12:34 a.m. MST
 |  E-MAIL | PRINT | FONT + - 
PROVO — Neonatal critical-care experts at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center soon will be able to practice newborn resuscitation using an almost-baby — a technologically advanced simulator that cries, turns blue and kicks or goes limp just like an infant in distress.

The interactive baby-girl manikin, created by Laerdal with the American Academy of Pediatrics, is called SimNewB. And she's different from most training manikins, because she responds to what's happening to her. If her airway's blocked, her heart rate goes down. When it's cleared, she begins to recover.

The hospital doesn't yet have its simulator, purchased with proceeds from the Chocolate Extravaganza Benefit Gala, but media were invited to a sneak preview with some staffers Thursday.

Hospital spokeswoman Janet Frank said the neonatal intensive-care unit has about 160 employees, and at least half of them will be trained initially, starting with the neonatal registered nurses and nurse practitioners. Later, training will expand to include others who provide direct patient care.

Dr. Ronald Stoddard, the unit's medical director and a long-time participant in the academy's Neonatal Resuscitation Program, hailed the simulator for its ability to provide realistic training that captures the urgency of resuscitating a newborn. To this point, they've talked their way through scenarios to train.

Story continues below
Frank said about 650 of the 5,000 babies delivered at the hospital each year require some form of resuscitation. The number is higher than the 10 percent national average, but the hospital provides tertiary care, so the sickest, highest-risk babies are cared for there.

The simulator looks like a full-term, 50th percentile newborn girl. She's 21 inches long and weighs 7 pounds and, depending on how she's feeling, she might be limp and slightly blue, or active and healthy pink. She also breathes and chokes and accommodates medical tools like positive-pressure airway devices, tubes and intravenous lines — even use of needle decompression to deal with a pneumothorax.


E-mail: lois@desnews.com

Recent comments

Mannequin is not spelled wrong in this article, though it struck me...

Suze | Feb. 8, 2008 at 7:03 a.m.

Image

Wende Prince intubates a SimNew8 baby during neonatal resuscitation training at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center Thursday. The manikin kicks, cries and turns blue.

previousnext

Latest comments

Why would Bountiful remove the mandatory recycling program? Why is it so hard...

Mike Lee is the real deal! He is truly a constitution scholar and is looking...

Congrats. Does this mean they will be hiring a new guy so soon? Or does...

A four day school week does not fit most families schedules. They do not...

Its blah blah blah. Always the same platitudes from the lefties. Joe Moe is...

We all know that women are supposed to be raising the kids and not out in the...

There is a pay-back time. If you vote against what we want you don't get...

12 high schools ready for 'The Turf'

The championship games for 3A, 4A, and 5A will be played on Friday Nov 20th....

Is it that big of a deal?

The Muslim/LDS/religious comparisons have their place, and the contrasts are...

Advertisements
Advertisement