By Charlene Gordon, RN

Ever have a patient go bad and just wish at the end of the day you could get a chance to replay it and fix what went wrong?

I just finished a three-day WMD (weapons of mass destruction) course that had a robot for a victim. And this guy was so real, it was scary.

“The guy” was a mannequin that blinked, had pupils that were reactive to light, and emitted pulses from every place a real person would. He made different heart sounds and different lung sounds (from rales to wheezing to rhonchi) while his chest rose and fell. He had an IV site that took into account which drug you were pushing, how much you were giving, and how fast you were giving it! He responded by computer to all your interventions, including reading an exact oxygen saturation to see if you were bagging correctly. (Don’t push the Versed too fast!)

Crashing him was okay . . . just re-boot and start all over again. With this one, you can play it again. And, what a learning experience it was! 

It would have been awesome for just basic assessments or regular ACLS (advanced cardiac life support), but this guy put ED nurses, ICU nurses, floor nurses, respiratory techs, and paramedics through their paces for a WMD treatment roundtable. We treated chemical emergencies, including viral and biological illnesses that were bad and getting worse.

The real beauty of the course was that several of the nurses have been around the emergency/ICU block a few times and were pretty sure this class was going to be a dud. They were one wound up bunch of nurses after three days. They loved it! This guy is spooky real and it really feels like he is dying, but unlike ACLS, where you alone have to answer, the group cooperates just like a real crashing patient.

The class really helped to prepare us to understand these complicated patients during a critical time where hesitation or a wrong choice could mean life or death for them.

The training is provided for free by TEEX (Texas Engineering Extension Service), a member of Texas A&M University System, through a federal grant when sponsored by Fire or EMS Departments for EMS, nursing, respiratory, and first responders. The mannequin alone costs more than $250,000 and they also have a pediatric version. The instructors were fantastic–not too serious, but really knew their subjects by experience. There was nothing these folks could not answer.

It took a lot of the mystery and anxiety out of caring for patients during these critical times. I just wish every nurse and all healthcare professionals could take this course every year. This was a great experience!

Don’t you wish you could get another chance sometimes?

Editor’s note: Charlene is the Emergency Preparedness Manager at Huntsville (TX) Memorial Hospital. Email her at charleneg@hmh.cc.