HARDIN — To better prepare rural healthcare providers for life-threatening emergencies, a Montana nonprofit is using high-tech medical simulators to bring hands-on training directly to smaller communities like Hardin.
Watch the medical simulation in action:
On Monday, nonprofit Simulation in Motion Montana (SIM-MT) visited Big Horn Hospital in Hardin to give hands-on, realistic training in response to sepsis, a life-threatening disease that can cause the body to turn on itself from an infection. The training was funded by the Montana Health Research and Education Foundation and the MT Flex grant.
“The last data that I looked at is sepsis is the third leading cause of death in the United States, so it's definitely something that we should all be aware of," said Priscilla Harris, a simulation specialist with the organization.
The organization uses various test simulators for a wide range of traumas, obstetrics and neurological events. Their equipment includes adult, pediatric, and infant mannequins, as well as a full-scale mobile ambulance and emergency room simulator.
The star of the day’s exercise was "Aries," a mannequin programmed to simulate a patient with sepsis. The specialists can control the mannequin through a screen to give trainees feedback or mimic medical emergencies.
“We bring high-acuity, low-volume scenarios to various settings,” said Harris. “We are known for just creating simulations to meet the facility's needs, so whether it's sepsis, OB (obstetrics), stroke, whatever you need, we have it or we can create it for you."
Harris and her colleague, Charity Stephens, travel across southern Montana and across the country to bring customized simulations to healthcare facilities. Stephens, who has worked in emergency medical services for two decades, has noticed the effectiveness of simulation in building muscle memory and revealing blind spots in a low-risk environment.
“What we're seeing is that simulation helps identify maybe some gaps between first responders and their facility, like EMS," said Stephens. "If you make a mistake, it kind of locks it into muscle memory, so in the future, if you encounter this type of patient, you automatically remember."
For rural hospitals such as Big Horn, where staff often work under resource constraints and patients may have long transport times to advanced care, this kind of preparation is vital.
“We really, really like to target those rural hospitals, the critical access hospitals," said Harris. "Education is so important, and it impacts patient outcomes, and it's really difficult to have quality education when you don't have the large numbers of staff or the funding for it.”
During the training in Hardin, staff could sign up for different simulation time slots throughout the day. Whether staff are new nurses or seasoned personnel, everyone can benefit from learning something new. For these professionals, getting to use their knowledge to help others is the highlight of what they do.
“It's really nice to see some of these individuals grow. You'll go back to the same facilities, and you can see the change that you've helped implement or helped elicit, and it's really great to see the new protocols coming into place and the changes in patient care,” said Harris.
“It's the 'aha' moment," added Stephens. "Like when we do a simulation, and then afterwards, we're debriefing and we're like, 'What about this?' And then all of a sudden, you see all the lights click on, and they're like, 'Oh my gosh, yeah.'"
While Aries may be a mannequin, the scenarios she simulates reflect the real people in Montana's communities, and knowing what to do in a medical emergency can mean the difference between life and death.
