How animated AI patients are training bush nurses for real life emergencies at NSW medical simulation centre
When “Elizabeth” arrives at a hospital she is screaming and moving in pain, as nurses new and experienced work furiously to find out what is wrong with her.
Key points:
- A simulation centre aims to upskill and retain nurses in country hospitals
- AI patients simulate hundreds of tricky emergencies for nurses
- An onsite 3-D printer creates body parts so nurses can take them away and learn from them
You may never meet Elizabeth but her treatment could guide yours in the future.
Alongside “Alex”, Elizabeth is an artificial intelligence (AI) training mannequin, and is part of a $1.3 million facility that has opened at Wellington in the NSW Central West.
The Centre for Rural Education, Simulation and Training (CREST) Simulation Centre, prepares medical professionals for real-life situations and provides training and upskilling in a rural setting.
The training environment at the facility is designed to replicate rural emergency departments, wards, and residential aged care facilities to provide a realistic experience for the nurses.
Senior nurse educator Gabrielle Arnold says the mannequins can create hundreds of unique, life-like simulations, and are full of surprises.
“We can push them a little bit. We can activate their cognitive load and the great thing about simulations is that we can actually stop and go back and then they [staff] can try it again,” she said.
“So [staff] get this repeat experience all the time.
“And then we debrief them afterwards and actually explore and unpack what was going on, and that’s where we find the learning happens as well.”
Training other countries for nursing
A 3-D printer at the training facility can print out life-like hearts, lungs, veins and other body parts to help nurses either train on-site or away to improve their understanding of the human body.
As well as upskilling experienced nurses, CREST introduces nurses from other regions or countries to the Western NSW Local Health District to help them adapt to the culture and healthcare practices of the region.
“They talk about the difference in our cultures out here, understand how some Australians use different lingo, and it just sets them up before they go into their hospitals,” Ms Arnold said.
“They’ve got a much better idea and it increases their confidence level.”
Goal is to retain bush nurses
Ms Arnold said the ultimate goal of the training program was to keep nurses in regional centres in the long term.
“Retaining them because they see that we want to invest in their education, we want them to go further in their careers,” she said.
She said it was important for regional nurses to see that courses offered at the centre could be layered to continue their training through to an advanced stage.
“They can see that if they come out to our area, we’ve invested in them,” Ms Arnold said.
“We want them to stay, and we will train them and get them to a very high level of expertise to care for their patients.”
