An $80,000 high-tech mannequin baby has traveled from Startship Hospital on a two-day training jaunt at Tauranga Hospital. We caught up with the baby and his mannequin parents during their stay at the hospital.
The baby in the Children's Ward at Tauranga Hospital has blue lips. He is crying. His fontanel is pulsing erratically and monitors bleep.
A nurse gently lifts him into a cradle position and calls him "sweet heart".
He may need oxygen, an IV and medication - but unlike normal boys of his age the $80,000 state of the art stimulation mannequin is running the show and could help save lives.
The technology was being showcased to front line doctors and nurses at Tauranga Hospital as part of the "Starship Simulation Outreach Programme" and the mannequin which represents an infant up to two years old could be programmed to have seizures or brain injuries.
Bay of Plenty District Health Board clinical director of emergency medicine Derek Sage said the training "allows us to anticipate and head off at the pass any problems that could adversely affect patient care".
A family of mannequins offered extra training as part of a Starship Simulation Outreach Programme at Tauranga Hospital. Photo/Andrew Warner.
"Twenty years ago we made the mistake on the patient...but we are very much more enlightened and we have all this technology that has been developed at warp speed."
The hospital already had a family of four stimulation mannequins - bar the baby in the bed - including a $150,000 male called Simon that can talk, urinate, bleed and have a heart attack while Annie could give birth via cesarean section.
The quartet were funded by grants from TECT and Mr Sage who was also the BOPDHB Simulation Advisory Group chairman said it enabled teams to work under pressure in a safe environment.
"We can think ok what happened and how can we do it better, it's called deliberate practice."
Starship Simulation programme manager and nurse educator Trish Wood said historically doctors and nurses trained separately.
Simon is one of a family of high-tech and realistic mannequins on offer to Tauranga Hospital for extra training. Photo/Andrew Warner
"It's really important that when we have a critical situation we know how to work together really well."
The programme started in 2008 following a partnership with Boston's Children Hospital in America and workshops were held in Hamilton earlier this week and previously at Palmerston North, Counties Manukau and Waitakere - with plans afoot for Hawkes Bay.
Co-director and paediatric intensivist Gabrielle Nuthall said the high tech baby was very similar to a flight simulator with instructions sent to the technician which could create different medical scenarios and "it responds in real time to the things, the people who are looking after it do".
Professor Traci Wolbrink from Boston Children's Hospital said medical stimulation had been around for a long time and the programme had made a big difference and changed their culture.
"It has enabled us to stimulate events that happen that should never happen again and identify safety threats on a patient so we can fix them ahead of time. We all have similar issues around the globe in practice and it's exciting to see the same problems come up and use the same solutions."
The Boston Children's Hospital stimulation team had trained clinicians from 12 countries, she said.
Starship Simulation Programme
- Starship, has a world-class paediatric simulation programme which trains clinical staff for paediatric medical emergencies, surgery and general public health
