The Island’s healthcare professionals are benefitting from enhanced training opportunities on-Island, thanks to a pair of new patient simulators purchased through a generous donation of $45,000 from the US-based Dr Scholl Foundation.
The life-like simulators – SimNewB and SimJunior – are interactive manikins that replicate real life clinical scenarios in new-born babies and young children. They were presented by Mrs Susan Scholl, an Isle of Man resident who very generously supported the application for funds made to the Dr Scholl Foundation.
Director of Medical Education, Dr Adrian Dashfield, said: “Simulators are invaluable in giving medical professionals a more realistic and practical experience of a wide range of clinical scenarios. We already have an adult simulator – SimMan3G – and these two additional simulators will allow us to provide a wider range of training, specifically in the care of new-borns and young children.”
“We are extremely grateful for this generous donation from the Dr Scholl Foundation. The reputation of the Island’s medical training has been enhanced in recent years with positive reviews and feedback by Health Education England and the General Medical Council; including a review in June of this year. These new simulators strengthen our ability to attract and train new junior doctors in the Isle of Man as well as our ability to maintain and enhance the skills of our permanent clinicians.”
All three simulators deliver the most realistic training possible with current technology. Fully computer controlled, the manikins can simulate patients in a range of health scenarios from relatively well to being critically ill. Some of the life-like features available through the simulators include: talking and vocal sounds, pupil dilation, bleeding, pulse rate and breathing. They also offer clinicians the ability to perform procedures such as: cardiopulmonary resuscitation, intubation, ultrasound and administering drugs intravenously.
The donation was made to the Medical Clinical Skills Centre Charitable Trust, which was established in 2013 to raise funds for a new training centre on the Island. As a result of the Trust’s efforts a state of the art facility was constructed as an annex to Keyll Darree on the Noble’s Hospital estate – the Medical Education and Clinical Skills Centre – which was officially opened in February 2015.
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