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i-Stan takes a trip north
February 24, 2011
EMS practise skills on patient simulator
Story and photo by Lisa Peters
Emergency Medical Services staff in Grande Prairie, Peace River and Fairview practised their life-saving skills in real time in February, thanks to a “fellow” named i-Stan who visited from Calgary.
i-Stan is a human patient simulator that breathes, has heart and lung sounds, vital signs, reactive eyes and an airway.
Its real-life resemblance allows EMS staff to apply their skills in realistic health situations, including strokes, breathing difficulties and many more trauma and injuries.
“It’s a great learning tool,” says Chris McBurney, a paramedic in Grande Prairie, “It puts you in real-life scenarios but allows you to pause and ask questions. The more access emergency staff have to it, the better everyone will be.”
During the simulations, two EMS staff tend to i-Stan, while field trainers monitor their progress in another part of the large mobile Medical Simulation Training Unit vehicle that drives up with i-Stan.
This was i-Stan’s second visit to Grande Prairie and its first to Peace River and Fairview.
There are two i-Stans in Alberta – both based in Calgary.
Brent Thorkelson, staff development officer for EMS Learning and Development, says he hopes to bring i-Stan and the mobile Medical Simulation Training Unit to northern Alberta at least once a year. “We are hoping to have one of them stationed out of Edmonton, which will help give northern Alberta’s communities better access to it.”
Human patient simulation is a sophisticated, technologically advanced teaching method. i-Stan is fully integrated with computer software in the front of the truck, as well as a microphone and speaker system. This gives the trainers full visibility of the scenario and work that is being done. At the end of each 25 minute scenario, the team debriefs.
“Sometimes EMS practitioners are nervous the first time they go through a scenario with human patient simulation,” says Thorkelson, “Performing a true-to-life emergency in front of your peers can be intimidating. But after a couple of rounds it’s really exciting and the energy is high.”
The Regional EMS Foundation is currently fundraising to purchase a simulation unit that would be based in the North Zone.