UB Nursing School to Open Patient Simulation Center

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The University at Buffalo School of Nursing is opening a new Patient Simulation Center, the centerpiece of which is an advanced patient simulation system, a life-size, fully computerized mannequin programmed to respond realistically to nearly any nursing or medical intervention.

Only 19 of the simulators are in place throughout the world. UB's School of Nursing is the only nursing school to own this particular simulator and the second in the world to obtain such a system.

The center on the 11th floor of Kimball Tower on UB's South (Main Street) Campus will open on Friday, March 7, with demonstrations, lectures and a ribbon-cutting. Events are planned from 1-8:30 p.m., with the ribbon-cutting set for 3 p.m.

The opening of the center will culminate two years of planning by the school's Nurse Anesthesia Program faculty and staff, who brought the patient simulator to campus in July 1995 to demonstrate its value for teaching in a number of disciplines, and to generate interest in facilitating its purchase.

The center's opening also will honor Ira P. Gunn, founder of the Nurse Anesthesia Program at UB in 1981 and a premiere authority in the field. Gunn, who will participate in the events, is a self-employed consultant in nurse-anesthesia affairs and a prolific writer and educator. She has served as consultant to the U.S. Army Surgeon General and the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists, as well as the UB School of Nursing. She lives in El Paso, Texas.

Diane J. Skiba, Ph.D., associate professor and director of informatics at the University of Colorado Health Science Center, will present a keynote address titled "Virtual University of Tomorrow" at 1 p.m. in 111 Kimball Tower.

A ribbon-cutting will be held at 3 p.m., followed by an open house, refreshments and demonstrations of the patient simulator.

From 5:30-8:30 p.m., Joanne L. Fisher, president of SimuNet, Inc., will conduct a workshop titled "Anesthesia Crisis Resource Management." An expert in anesthesia computer simulation, Fisher is founder and president of SimuNet, a company that provides simulation-related consulting to businesses and institutions. She also is an adjunct assistant professor with the schools of Nursing and Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh.

The main attraction of the day, however, will be the patient simulator, dubbed "SAM-SON," the acronym for "Simulated Anesthesia Mannequin - School of Nursing," by center staff. Originally designed to train anesthesia providers, the patient simulator can be used in any field where experience in human physiological responses are critical, said Thomas E. Obst, director of UB's Nurse Anesthesia Program. The system also is valuable for training in team-crisis management, evaluating human behavior under stress, assessing performance of routine medical procedures and testing new equipment, he said.

The mannequin "breathes," has a palpable pulse, maintains body temperature and produces breath and heart sounds. Monitors record a variety of responses induced by circumstances such as equipment malfunction, life-threatening drug interactions and various metabolic, pulmonary and/or cardiovascular events.

For example, SAM-SON can be induced to suffer from hypertension and diabetes, enabling students to learn the physiological effects of various drugs and interventions on such a patient. It can experience an allergic reaction to an anesthetic. Heart valves can be made to malfunction; breathing tubes to become displaced, monitors to become disconnected, IV lines disrupted.

Purchase of the patient simulator was made possible by funding from the UB Office of the Provost, Dean's Office in the UB School of Nursing and the Indian Health Service, which also funds the UB Nursing School's Native American Nurse Anesthesia Program.