All Harding nursing majors take their turns treating Hal: listening to his heartbeat and breathing with their stethoscopes, injecting medicine through a syringe, or even administering CPR, just as they would with any standard patient after graduation. The only difference is, Hal is actually a computer-programmed mannequin.
Nursing professor Nona Lacy said Harding received donations from alumni several years ago that allowed the school to purchase an entire family of the lifelike mannequins so that nursing students would have an opportunity to practice the skills they learn in the classroom on a humanoid body.
“There are three levels of mannequins: low, medium and high fidelity,” Lacy said. “The Competency Development Center has 5 high fidelity mannequins. They are the most realistic mannequins. They have heartbeats, breathing with chest rise and lung sounds, pulses, eyes that open and blink, pupils that react to light, tummy sounds and can talk. Some of them even talk in different languages.”
Lacy explained that each individual mannequin also has a specific use that is geared toward a particular skill set.
“Hal is made to use in simulations where there is a trauma and for advanced nursing or medical procedures,” Lacy said. “He exhales carbon dioxide and can be put on a mechanical ventilator. He can also simulate many different cardiac emergencies including a heart attack.”
Several of the mannequins have drug recognition arms that detect which “medicine” is programmed into microchips on special syringes. The mannequins can be preprogrammed to speak certain sentences, or nursing professors can speak for them in real-time from a control room equipped with microphones and cameras. One of the mannequins is even capable of giving birth.
“Noelle delivers a baby and can simulate various childbirth emergencies,” Lacy said. “Baby Hal simulates a newborn with crying and a pulse in his umbilical cord and moving arms.”
Students check the mannequins’ vital signs from wireless tablets set up next to the hospital beds. Clinical assistant Ronda Reely said that because the tablets are portable, they can be used in classrooms all over the building for various lessons besides their use alongside the mannequins. Reely said she believes this technology was a good investment for Harding to make.
“The college of nursing has been using task trainers and low and moderate fidelity mannequins for many years,” Reely said “The addition of the high fidelity mannequins has provided the students and faculty with increased teaching and learning opportunities in a safe learning environment.”
Lacy agreed that there is value in allowing the students to practice before treating real human patients.
“Universities and hospitals across the nation have gone to using simulation for teaching,” Lacy said. “High fidelity mannequins make it the most realistic experience a student can have next to taking care of an actual patient.”
Lacy said that the environment is low risk, non-competitive and made for learning. It allows for mistakes to be made without harm to a real person. The students are able to study their own work and talk about the simulation with other students and faculty, allowing the information to sink in, according to Lacy.
“It is all research based and has been shown to be very effective for learning,” Lacy said.
Junior nursing major Elizabeth Hartman said she has experienced the benefits of utilizing the mannequins for practice.
“I think it’s a good way to transition to real patient care for those who are inexperienced with real patients,” Hartman said. “It’s a way to do the skills for patients without worrying about doing it wrong and working your way up to the clinical experience at the hospital. I am glad that Harding purchased them.”
