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An expanded Web version of segments seen on CNN Learning medicine from a dummy
Computer 'patient' may save real lives
October 16, 1997
Web posted at: 12:01 p.m. EDT (1601 GMT)HERSHEY, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- During years of intense schooling, doctors-in-training still learn their new craft in an old way -- by hospital apprenticeship. Now, a device known as a "patient simulator" is helping ease the transition between medical school and the emergency room.
The "patient" -- actually, a computer-controlled dummy -- can be programmed to simulate a variety of medical problems, some of them specific only to men or women. It even has a pulse and breathes like a human.
Heartbeat, blood pressure and respiration are measured and shown on a computer screen. A bar-code reader senses and measures when drugs are administered.
CNN Correspondent Dick Wilson's report
Demonstration of the
patient simulator
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QuickTime movieAnd when anesthesia is given, the simulator does what a human might. Its thumb stops moving when enough drugs relax the patient's muscles.
Pennsylvania State University's College of Medicine is among just a handful of hospitals and medical schools using the patient simulator to create realistic learning experiences.
In one diagnosis exercise, student doctors must figure out quickly why the "patient's" heart has stopped beating. In another, they try to revive the patient after it's programmed to stop breathing.
The patient can "die" if students do something wrong, says Dr. W. Bosseau Murray, a Penn State instructor. Student doctor Allison Ballantine believes the life-and-death realism provides valuable experience.
179 K/15 sec. AIFF or WAV sound
Real patients should also welcome the computer-assisted training, says Dr. Murray, since it allows student doctors to learn from mistakes that don't actually harm anyone.
The one-time cost of the patient simulator is about $200,000. For patients, the long-term benefit is better trained, more confident medical personnel.
From Correspondent Dick Wilson
Related sites:
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
- Welcome to Penn State
- Penn State Anesthesia Home Page
- Anesthesia Simulator User Sites
- Penn State's CNN filming page: Pictures from the two days CNN spent in the Simulation Development and Cognitive Science Laboratory
External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.
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