Air Ambulances buy training dummies
Posted: July 2, 2013
Posted in: Medical Negligence Personal Injury 
Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance Service have purchased three life-like dummies to improve training for its paramedics. Two of the dummies are mannequins of adult males, while the other is that of a four-week-old baby. Costing a total of £40,000 – to be used in both indoor and outdoor lessons – they hope to teach the core skills of airway, breathing, cardiac and circulation management.
With functions as developed as eye movements – such as pupil dilation – breathing, abnormal breathing sounds and vascular access, Consultant Farhad Island believes that: “by having a mannequin that can breathe and talk and has body bits that function like a human we can make it as real as possible.”
Can teach life-saving procedures
One of the mannequins, SimMan, also has a pair of lungs, which are breathing inside. This allows paramedics to practice situations such as car accidents, whereby a patient may have trauma to the chest – causing pressure to build up outside the chest. This then requires decompression, which can be done by using a needle to pop the chest: a life-saving procedure, or they may have to perform a small surgical operation. Having the ability to practice this – as obviously real people can’t be used here – allows paramedics to perform more efficiently in high-pressure situations.
The other dummie ‘Crash Kelly’, a more rhobust model, has been created for more difficult scenarios – such as a patient being trapped in a car. The head and body of Crash Kelly are easier to move about.
The third dummie, newborn baby Anne, has been designed to teach the resuscitation of a baby: something that cannot be taught otherwise.
The charity said that the dummies have been a very worthwhile investment.
« Shellfish toxin warning for Scottish town
Birthplace of the NHS to lose A&E unit »