It can simulate breathing, has a heartbeat, its limbs can be broken and set, and it is attached to the same kind of anesthesia and monitoring equipment used for real patients. It also can bleed, though blood loss is measured by monitors. The mannequin also has dozens of sensors that react to various drugs and other treatments according to the scenario the simulator has been programmed to mimic. As a team trains in the operating room with the mannequin, an operator runs the scenario from a bank of computers in an adjacent room and observes the scene through a one-way mirror. Because the computer runs in real time, scenarios can unfold in a realistic way, just as if a real patient was on the table.
All simulations are videotaped by cameras, so teams can later critique their performance.
Students also can run through scenarios from computer terminals located elsewhere in the Clinical Simulation Center, but rather than administering therapy, they type their responses. Center director David Murray says that, as these simulators become more common, health professionals, like pilots, may someday be required to go through certification in a variety of simulated scenarios. But we have no similar training opportunities for health professionals. As more simulators are built, that will begin to change. The video review after each simulation allows team members to see how well they work together.