Emory nursing students Lisa Ko and Anjli Aurora, from left, and instructor Barbara Kaplan practice suctioning a newborn on a Noelle birthing patient simulator.

The nursing students misread a symptom and made an error administering medication. Although they did everything they could to resuscitate the patient, he died anyway. A tragedy? Not when the patient is a computer-enhanced mannequin, known as a patient simulator.

"What you have then is a teachable moment and that's what you're looking for in education," said David Bennett, RN, Ph.D., chair of the WellStar School of Nursing at Kennesaw State University. "Simulation is application learning, where students get to apply their skills and knowledge in a safe, controlled environment without hurting a live patient."

By partnering with WellStar Health System at Windy Hill Hospital, four years ago KSU was able to purchase the sophisticated METI-Man patient simulator ($170,000) made by Medical Education Technology Inc. The computer-enhanced mannequin is lifesized, blinks, speaks and simulates physiological processes such as blood pressure, heartbeat and breathing.

Students can practice taking vital signs, intubation, administering medications and reacting to changes in disease states. The simulator can be programmed to run scenarios automatically or respond to real-time changes imposed by an instructor via computer.

Nicknamed Ned (short for nursing education dummy), KSU has used its patient simulator to teach students basic assessment skills. Ned lets them experience abnormalities in heart rates and breathing and get a taste for working in medical emergency situations. Fake blood, vomit and secretions coming from the nose or throat add to the reality.

Lori Schumacher, assistant professor and interim chair of the Medical College of Georgia department of physiological and technological nursing, advocates the use of patient simulators. "It's a method that is catching on quickly and I think we're going to see its applications mushroom in the coming years," she said.

"I love this way of teaching. It's an effective and wonderful method, because hands-on is how many students learn best," said Jane Brannan, Ed.D., RN, associate professor of nursing at KSU.

She believes the creativity of the process engages students in ways that lecture and textbook study can't.

"It wasn't easy to learn how to use the simulator, and it takes a lot of space and maintenance, but I think simulation is here to stay in nursing education. It's a good bridge between lecture and clinical teaching," Brannan said.

With a grant from the National League of Nursing, Brannan studied its effectiveness and saw an increase in cognitive skills and grasp of the material in students taught by simulation. She already knew that the students enjoyed it.

Many strategic uses
Barbara Kaplan, RN, MSN, instructor at the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University, and Martin Reznek, MD, assistant professor in the department of emergency medicine at Emory University, believe that the use of patient simulators will be a standard teaching method for health care in 10 to 15 years. They are collaborating to build a state-of-the-art patient simulator lab at the Evans Center for Caring Skills on the Atlanta campus.