Redding, Calif.-based Shasta College implemented human-resembling electronic medical simulators to train nurses and other medical personnel, Redding Record Searchlight reports.
The technology-equipped device, named Victoria, is made of plastic, features correct human anatomy and is controlled by a laptop computer. Victoria allows nursing students to practice healthcare functions, such as using stethoscopes to listen to a heartbeat or sound of breathing, as well as fluid buildup detection in a patient's legs.
"The value of them to a training program is that it's a no-risk situation to the patient's health," Shasta College nursing clinical skills lab coordinator Lynnette Crowe, told Redding Record Searchlight. "They can learn more from failures than their successes."
Victoria is one of 10 of Shasta College's advanced technology-equipped simulators. The college has 50 additional medical simulators, but these do not feature advanced technology.
Redding, Calif.-based Mercy Medical Center, one of three local hospitals Shasta College nursing students can complete their mandatory clinical hours, will receive a new medical simulation device, named Hal, next month, according to the report. Hal can be wirelessly controlled and can simulate as male or female.
"It's got lung sounds, bowel sounds, heart tones, its eyes dilate," Mercy Medical Center's Manager of Education Sandra Rock, RN, said. "He can talk, he can sweat ... he has veins, you can palpate his pulses. This is an up-and-coming way to train nurses across the board."