Phoenix Children’s uses model patients to teach healthcare workers new skills

Please donate to the Phoenix Children’s Give-A-Thon today!

The Phoenix Children’s simulation center is full of patients — but none of them are human.

The center has five labs with model patients that simulate movement and breathing similar to what nurses and doctors will encounter in real patients. Staff members practice new techniques on the models before treating patients.

The simulation labs are meant to teach prelicensed nurses, Arizona State University students and current Phoenix Children’s staff new medical skills before they treat patients with specific medical issues, such as a tracheotomy on an infant.

How do mannequins at Phoenix Children’s help medical professionals learn?

Amber Senetza, simulation program manager for Phoenix Children’s, said having mannequins that reflect children that staff will treat in the future helps create muscle memory for how to conduct a treatment plan.

“We have premature infants and we have adult patients. So, we can really help anybody at any level and any patient population. The technology that is in them is really advanced because it’s more of that realistic anatomy and physiological response that the patients would have. So, listening to breath sounds and heart sounds and belly sounds,” she said.

Each simulation room has microphones and cameras so educators can communicate with students or control the model’s movement and vitals during the simulation.

The simulation center first opened in 2020 with two simulation labs. It’s since expanded to five, with more classrooms for debriefs after each simulation.

Senetza said the debriefs are often the place where students learn how to improve by breaking down what happened during the simulation so they can adjust technique or decision-making in the future.

“I think the biggest goal that when they come here is they’re learning something new. Maybe it’s about procedures or maybe it’s about themselves or how to better care for patients,” she said.

How you can donate during the Phoenix Children’s Give-A-Thon

The 18th annual Give-A-Thon is presented by Your Valley Hyundai Dealers and Yrefy. Anybody who wants to make a donation can do so by calling the phone bank at 602-933-4567, texting “GIVE” to 620620 or visiting the Give-A-Thon website.

The largest radio hospital fundraiser in the country brought in a record $2.45 million in donations last year, pushing the total raised since 2009 to more than $26 million.

Funding for this journalism is made possible by the Arizona Local News Foundation.

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