Industry News - IMSH 2010
Simulation-related EMS awards presentation. Highlights of the EMS Tech Session and Dinner.

User Focus - Out of the Mouths of SPs

(The following is excerpted from a recent article that was published in The Denver Post by John Leyba)

Standardized patients (SP), many of whom are professional actors looking for extra money, can cry on demand when they are "diagnosed" with cancer or Alzheimer's disease. Strong memorization skills are a must: Patients have to stick to a script saturated with family history of disease, medications, sexual history, and surgeries.

SPs are in higher demand than ever in Colorado with the opening in 2008 of a second medical school in the state, Rocky Vista University in Parker. Rocky Vista, an osteopathic school employs about 60 SPs who are paid $20 to $50 per hour to let students poke inside their ears and tap on their stomachs. Many SPs say they don't do it for the money but to help future doctors develop empathy, better listening skills, and a gentler touch. After their exam, patients evaluate students as part of their grade.

I want them all to succeed," said Rich Beall, who also has worked for the Denver Center for the Performing Arts and had a TV role on "Perry Mason." He doesn't hold back when it comes to constructive criticism.

"If someone comes in with a lab coat that's not clean, you note it," he said. "I had one gal come in all dressed for a Saturday night."

"Patient" doing her part
Robin Mulroney who has worked as an SP for nine years and now trains others, believes she's doing her part to prevent that rare "doctor from hell" encounter. She recalled a real-life experience in which a specialist walked into the hospital room of one of her relatives, flopped into a lounge chair and without even introducing himself announced, "So you have lupus." The doctor kept talking "90 miles an hour" even after the woman burst into tears.

"His empathy, his patient care for the whole patient, the emotions of the patient, it was just tragic," Mulroney said.

Last November at Rocky Vista, 10 first-year medical students wearing white lab coats and clutching medical bags lined up outside their assigned exam rooms. One was so nervous beforehand that she put her fingers in a yoga pose and sighed, "Zen." With the sound of an alarm, each student knocked on an exam-room door and stepped inside to greet an SP sitting on an exam table.

The students had 50 minutes to perform a routine physical examination, observed by faculty and recorded in a control room down the hall.

The highest-paid SPs are gynecological and urological teaching associates who guide students through pelvic exams. LoriLynne Lawson, a 53-year-old with scars from a C-section and a breast lumpectomy, has had up to 14 gynecological exams in one day.

She had one student remove the speculum without closing it. And she chuckles remembering some of the clumsy statements students have made, as in, "Let's just take a feel now, shall we?"

Lawson doesn't tell everyone she knows about her job. "Some people say, 'Ewww, how do you do that?' Some people think you are prostituting yourself," she said. But Lawson remembers holding her daughter's hand during her first pelvic exam. "I was glad they knew what they were doing and hadn't just practiced on a plastic doll," she said.

"Making a difference" Chelsea Williamson, 25, became an SP after she was laid off as a cabinet designer. She has found that some medical students need to work on their listening and sensitivity. While she was portraying a girl with severe psychological problems who cuts herself, one student kept saying, "Gotcha." Another said "Great!" after she informed him that her parents were dead." [Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine uses EMS' Total Skills Center and Total Digital AV solutions to capture, debrief, and assess student performance and effectively manage their skills center, which includes 20 exam rooms, a control room, and 20 observation stations.]

EMS Focus - SIMXpress - A New Choice in Simulation Training

SIMXpress was unveiled to a crowd of more than 100 people during the EMS technology session at the IMSH conference in Phoenix last month. An out-of-the-box software and hardware stand-alone unit, SIMXpress can help institutions meet patient safety standards and requirements by enabling the use of video to record simulated scenarios followed by debriefing and skills evaluation in various settings. Many customers have had to make the compromise of getting only an AV solution and maintaining data manually. Others have implemented individual systems that do not efficiently allow for integration of multiple rooms. SIMXpress is a SINGLE easy-to-use self-contained solution. It is wireless, portable, and scalable. Multiple SIMXpress units can be used as a complete network-enabled solution for centralized data management and shared video access. SIMXpress is designed for easy set-up and use wherever simulation training is conducted, in-lab or in-situ. It's ideally suited for hospitals, and nursing and allied health simulation programs.

An All-Encompassing Simulation Management Solution for In-Lab or In-Situ
SIMXpress is a fully integrated software, hardware, and AV simulation solution that can be used in any setting: small, medium, or large environments. It is a wireless, portable, and scalable unit that comes standard with cameras, camera pods or wall mounts, omni-directional microphones, large data storage space, and a portable server cart with a wide 22" monitor for debriefing. A wireless network for optimum wireless signal strength and stability, expanded frequency range, and low interference powers SIMXpress. The unit includes pre-installed software to manage and record three camera views, and capture one or more high-fidelity simulator’s vital signs monitor and event logs.

Call 877-367-5050, or email info@EMS-works.com or visit our website http://www.ems-works.com/SIMXpress.aspx for more information.

EMS Welcomes New Clients:

We're happy to welcome the following new clients:

Industry News - Two Unforgettable Events at IMSH 2010! EMS had outstanding attendance at both the tech session and the dinner at the 10th IMSH conference in January with over 100 people at each event! The newly unveiled SIMXpress received a lot of interest at the tech session as did EMS' other showcase solutions -- the ability to simultaneously video record multiple simulators in a single room and capture the event logs and vital signs of those simulators allowing for multiple debriefings; and mySIMonline. At the dinner, EMS recognized three clients who have significantly advanced medical simulation education in their respective environments. The 2010 EMS Pioneer award was presented to Debra Danforth, MS, ARNP, FAANP, Director, Clinical Skills and Simulation Center & Associate Professor, Florida State University, College of Medicine; the Advocate award to Celeste Villanueva, CRNA, MS, Director, Program of Nurse Anesthesia & Director, Health Sciences Simulation Center, Samuel Merritt University; and the Champion award to Leland J. Rockstraw, PhD, RN, Associate Clinical Professor & Director, Center for Clinical & Electronic Learning Resources, Drexel University - College of Nursing & Health Professions. Going forward, the EMS awards will be presented at IMSH annually -- while EMS chose the recipients this year, clients will nominate their peers in 2011. Thanks for attending, we hope to see you next year at the IMSH meeting in New Orleans. In Brief - EMS-SimMan 3G integration announced If you've purchased Laerdal's SimMan 3G or are considering doing so, the good news is that EMS now integrates our products with SimMan 3G. This capability will be available by the end of February. EMS' products also integrate with a number of other simulators and we're constantly working with simulator vendors to enhance their users' experience by integrating their high-fidelity mannequins with EMS' Arcadia solutions. Stay tuned throughout 2010 for more exciting news. In The News - $10M Simulation Center for the Bronx Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (NYHHC) President Alan Aviles recently announced the $10 million simulation Center, which will be located at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx. Construction on the new facility has already begun, and officials believe it will open in the fall this year. The Center will include 11 high-fidelity simulators, a digital audio-video system to record scenarios in operating and emergency rooms; software to manage the workflow of the center, such as scheduling participants, rooms, and equipment; and classroom space for instructors to debrief and review simulations with employees. "I am excited at the opportunity to run the City's first comprehensive medical simulation center and the only one of its kind among public hospitals across the country," said Dr. Haru Okuda, HHC Institute for Medical Simulation and Advanced Learning Director. "I look forward to helping thousands of our clinical and nursing staff to practice the skills they already have, to learn new ones, and to master the latest innovative techniques in health care." For more information, click here.

Stop by our Booth! March 22-23 AIMS Conference & Exhibition, D.C Joining the EMS team are: Deirdre Chalmers, Technical Writer; Maria Brice, HR Administrator; Paul Niskanen, Technical Customer Service Specialist; Sandeep Saxena, Product Manager; Dave Moser, Inside Sales Representative;and Brian Oplinger, Sales Engineer.     Samuel Merritt University Oregon Health & Science University University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio University of Colorado Denver University of Alabama Looking for nursing scenarios? Click here for details about SIMScenarios -- 35 basic, intermediate, and advanced nursing scenarios that can be used with Laerdal's SimMan and VitalSim.