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HIGH-TECH MANNEQUINS HELP TRAIN NEXT WAVE OF DOCTORS IN BUSINESS HEALTH CARE By Paul Takahashi staff writer I n a sterile hospital room, 79-year- old Vincent Tortella lies in bed, his eyes blinking and his chest heaving. "It's hard for me to breathe," Tortella tells a nurse wearing red scrubs. "I can't ... can't catch my breath." Tortella's eyes begin to droop and his words become incoherent. A nearby ox- ygen and blood-pressure monitor starts flashing red. A doctor rushes into the room. He checks for a pulse. There is none. "Call a code 99," the doctor yells, warning staff of a medical emergency requiring resuscitation. compressions!" "Start chest Welcome to the Clinical Simulation Center of Las Vegas, where hundreds of local nursing students and clinical resi- dents train for medical emergencies by running simulated scenarios with ro- botic mannequins. Tortella is a "SIM man," composed of colorful tubes and wires, springs and batteries, and yellow foam surrounded by pink rubbery skin. But just like any human patient, "SIM man" can blink and breathe, bleed and sweat. "They're very realistic," said UNLV nursing student Claire Studebaker, 23. "The fact that they talk to you is really cool." Coolness aside, these mannequins serve an important role in meeting the growing medical demands of the Las Vegas Valley. Born three years ago out of a necessi- ty for more nurses in Southern Nevada, the SIM Center has become renowned for its cutting-edge way of training phy- sicians and nurses. The SIM Center is now one of the largest centers of its kind west of the Mississippi River, operations director Jackie Kinsey said. SMART DUMMY: UNLV nursing students run through a simulation with a medical mannequin at the Clinical Simulation Center at UNLV's Shadow Lane campus. Before these realistic mannequins were created, medical and nursing stu- dents poked oranges and even one an- other to practice drawing blood or in- serting intravenous drips into patients. Now, students are able to use manne- quins that don't feel pain and can "die" and be rebooted again and again. "The great thing about mannequins is some of these situations, won't see in their clinical rotations (at UMC), but it on these mannequins," Kinsey said. "The biggest thing they get out of this is patient safety." labs, calling it a valuable learning expe- rience. "I'm really shy, so this helps," said UNLV nursing student Amber Ander- son, 22. "We learn to get more asser- tive." The SIM Center opened in Septem- ber 2009, funded with nearly $18 mil- LEE they can actually practice (students) LEILA NAVIDI puters and mannequins. Some help stu- dents diagnose pneumonia. Others help them save a patient's life. Higher education leaders hope these lessons will keep generating more doc- tors and nurses in Las Vegas, which has long suffered a shortage of both. With a new Veterans Affairs hospital opened in North Las Vegas and plans for a new hospital and senior health care center at Union Village in Hender- son, there are burgeoning opportuni- ties in Las Vegas' medical sector. that "This is a whole different kind of learn- ing," Kinsey said. "This center is playing a huge role in trying to make Southern Nevada into a medical mecca." lion in state and federal grant funding earmarked by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. Three years later, the center's $566,500 annual operating budget comes from the nursing schools at UNLV and NSC, as well as the state medical school. The center has nine "high-fidelity," or human-like, mannequins with inter- changeable body parts, wigs and mus- tients of varying ages. Special effects can be added on to sim- ulate gang tattoos and gunshot wounds, various infections, burn injuries and bedsores. Sprays are used to mimic foul Nursing students seem to like the SIM odors coming from vomit, excrement and infected wounds to simulate a real hospital scenario. "You try to make it as real as possible," SIM technician Suzanne Sharp said. "You want (students) to suspend disbe- lief, and they really do." More than 100 simulations can be programmed on the SIM Center's com- A nursing student places two elec- trodes on Tortella's plastic-and-latex chest. "Prepare for shock," he says. "Every- one clear?" Two fake high-voltage shocks are administered. The medical checks for a heartbeat. "OK, we got a pulse." resident A technician's voice suddenly booms over the loudspeakers. "This simulation is over. Please head to the debriefing room." 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