Real-life Sims

This story was first published in Stuff on 13 July 2023. Photo credit BRUCE MACKAY/THE POST - Twenty-seven-week-old neonate, premature Anne is intubated.

There’s premature Anne – the 27-week-old baby or Maia, the hi-fidelity simulator, positioned with legs akimbo ready for childbirth.

With the key bits anatomically correct, Wellington Regional Hospital’s simulation patients, or Sims, are incredibly high-tech ... and undeniably creepy.

Despite looking like something a weary nurse might meet in their nightmares, these Sims are the safest way for trainees to practice medical procedures, especially if they are rare or high risk.

These ‘’patients’’ also allow women’s health teams in the Greater Wellington region to upskill faster than they could with lived experience.

Research shows the ability to provide realistic simulation training regularly improves emergency care and long-term outcomes, neonatologist Dr Maria Saito-Benz said.

Since simulations began last month, baby Anne has already trained more than 150 staff in the neonatal unit, “so all our staff are really familiar and comfortable with emergency management of really fragile babies”, Saito-Benz said.

They’re part of a major $350,000 investment in Wellington Regional Hospital’s simulation technology funded through the Wellington Hospitals Foundation.

Other new Sims including one known as the ‘’SimMan’’, which imitates emergency and trauma patients.

Here’s some of the craziest things they can do:

Breathe: Their chest can rise and fall, they can have a breathing tube inserted and the 27-week-old baby even has tiny, anatomically correct airways. The Sims’ heart beats are crucial so teams know whether their ‘’patient’’ is still alive. They can also be hooked up to standard hospital monitoring equipment.

Bleed: It’s water and dye, but is intended to help make the simulation more realistic.

Cry: Pick up the baby and it will cry, as babies do. Maia can also speak and share her distress during labour. She can also swear.

Seizure: Pregnant Maia can react to medication, go into cardiac arrest and be shocked, prompting emergency responses.

Blink: The day Stuff visited Maia’s eyes were offline, meaning she had an eerie vacant stare as she gave birth, but usually she can eye-track and blink, to add to the realism.

For the full story visit: thepost.co.nz