iStan Makes Visit to PGH


On May 26, iStan made a visit to the Emergency Room at Princeton General Hospital. Designed to provide an opportunity for health care providers to practice potentially lifesaving skills, iStan is the trade name of the “most advanced wireless patient simulator on the market.” As explained by Dr. Matt Petrie with the Interior Health Mobile Simulation Program, iStan “talks, blinks, breathes” and is capable of simulating a variety of scenarios that duplicate real life situations. Petrie was joined by Dr. Karla Tajik and Colleen Brayman who formed the visiting Simulation Team.

Princeton health care professionals who participated in the program included doctors, nurse practitioners, registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, and paramedics. In the introductory comments, participants were encouraged to view iStan as a real patient and perform procedures such as taking a pulse, listening for heartbeat, checking blood pressure, and other clinical procedures that they would administer to a real person. It was also demonstrated that during a simulation iStan would be wirelessly monitored and his clinical signs would change automatically as he responded to treatment.

In the first simulation, paramedics with BC Ambulance Services contacted the hospital to let them know that in five minutes they would be arriving at the ER with a 40 year old male involved in a motorcycle accident, that he was conscious but not coherent. One doctor, two RNs and one LPN responded to the delivery. The team put iStan through a series of tests and administered procedures in an effort to stabilize the patient for eventual transport to Penticton General Hospital. An additional doctor and nurse were called in to assist and the High Acuity Response Team in Penticton was contacted by telephone. Lab technicians were brought in to take x-rays and take blood tests.

The simulation concluded with a debriefing session where participants shared their thoughts. There was general agreement that patient simulation provides excellent exposure to clinical experiences that are complex or difficult to obtain. The experience was considered to be very valuable and provided an opportunity to promote patient safety through the process of self-reflection and assessment.

This training session was sponsored by the practitioners at Cascade Medical.

Photo attachment: Dr. Charles Wong and Angelina Hecimovic (LPN) take vital signs of iStan while other PGH health care professionals observe the simulation. (Photo credit: Nienke Klaver)

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