By ANN ESCAMILLA, Staff Reporter.
A small hospital room in the F-wing is packed with 33 Delta students from different disciplines, checking vitals and monitoring the breathing of the patient. The patient’s eyes opened and closed while beeping filled the room.
“Honey, is the baby okay?” asked Lori Kloc, Simulation Educator.
The “baby,” like the “mother,” were not real humans, but were, in fact, simulation dummies. Delta students sprang into action to “rescue” the 36-week pregnant simulation dummy that was badly injured in a car accident while on her way to a c-section.
Students were from different medical fields such as:nursing, surgical tech, sonography, radiography, respiratory therapy and physical therapy all sprang into action during the mock emergency March 31.
For Michelle Valik, surgical tech student, this is her second simulation.
“[For students] who haven’t experienced it, it’s kind of an eye opener,” Valik said. “Gives them a better understanding.”
The simulation helps students from each discipline interact with one another as they would in a hospital setting. Radiography students took X-rays on scene of the dummy’s leg and chest. They introduced themselves to the patient and gave a step-by-step description of what they were doing. Soon, sonography students arrived asking the patient if she had any problems with her pregnancy so far and checked to make sure the baby was okay.
The steady beeping of the heart monitor filled the room when suddenly the heart rate of the patient started to drop and respiratory students stepped in. Questions such as, “Can you hear us?” and “How are you doing?” were asked to the patient while the small room quickly filled with students ready to help.
An IV was placed in the robotic mom’s arm and an intubation tube placed down her throat to help her breathe. Nurses and surgeons then rushed her to the operating room.
Camay Booms, first assistant during surgery, thinks the simulation is very beneficial. “Everyone’s coming together,” she said. “It’s crazy. This the first or second school to attempt one this big.”
Being the biggest simulation that Delta has put on with six disciplines, Kloc hopes to have more this big in the near future and shared what it does for the students.
“It gives students a safe environment to learn and practice skills and brings together other disciplines,” she said.
The operating room was bright with light as surgical instruments were passed back from student assistants to the doctor played by Donovan Traverse, Associate Professor and Division Chair of Health and Wellness.
Shortly after the voice recording of a baby fills the room – a healthy mechanical baby boy, that is.