News Releases

Dummy Brings New Smarts to USM Nursing Education

February 25, 2004

His chest rises and falls with the sound of his breath. His pulse is uneven. Fluid bags drip liquids into his arm. He speaks, he moves his head, he even has heart attacks. But he recovers from most diseases in 30 minutes. Meet "SimMan," a state-of-the-art computerized, robotic mannequin at the Learning Resource Center in USM's School of Nursing and Health Professions.

USM is one of only eight universities chosen to participate in national study on the use of simulation in nursing curricula. The study, underwritten by the National League for Nursing and the mannequin manufacturer, Laerdal, will help nursing students get as close as they can to the real thing.

"SimMan, or 'Mr. Sim,' is equipped with a software program that allows us to program simulated healthcare situations -- sudden cardiac arrest, choking, asthma attack -- where a nurse would have to react," says USM Associate Professor of Nursing Janis Childs, who directs the program's Learning Resource Center. Depending on the students' actions -- such as checking for a real, simulated pulse, performing a tracheotomy, suctioning, giving injections, administering oxygen -- Mr. Sim will either improve or deteriorate.

"Students get an immediate reaction to what happens," notes Childs. "That's good, that's what real life is. You don't have 15 minutes to look it up. It encourages critical thinking and on-the-spot decision making, which can be hard when you're new at nursing. Mr. Sim makes learning safer for students; their anxiety is not in the way as much as it would be in a hospital setting."

The quality of skill-building the mannequin provides offsets its hefty price tag -- roughly $30,000 -- which was partially underwritten by a grant. "Because of Maine's nursing shortage, we thought he was well worth the investment," says Childs. "It's especially useful for students in our accelerated, 15-month BS in Nursing degree program. It moves them further along faster and more thoroughly."

Because of his robotic capabilities, nursing students can see, hear and feel his responses. Instructors can program the speech software to make Mr. Sim speak, groan, or even address a student by name. His vital statistics are displayed on monitors and may change, depending on the student's adherence to healthcare protocols. And, yes, he's anatomically correct.

"That's where it gets interesting," laughs Childs. "He has interchangeable parts, so he can be made to be male or female. We're having a contest to come up with new gender-appropriate names."

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