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Simulation Training to Serve Heart Attack Patients
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PHOENIX — May 18, 2012. Mayo Clinic and Phoenix Fire Department personnel are partnering to enhance the safety of patients experiencing a heart attack and simulation with high fidelity mannequins are playing a pivotal role.
The mannequins are designed to closely replicate humans. The simulations, which take place at Mayo's Multidisciplinary Simulation Center at Mayo Clinic Hospital, allow first responders and medical staff to benefit from hands-on training in a realistic, yet safe environment.
VIDEO ALERT: Click here for a video of F. David Fortuin, M.D., director of Mayo Clinic Hospital's Multidisciplinary Simulation Center, talking about the training program.
Expedient, coordinated teamwork between medical staff in the clinical setting and first responders, such as emergency medical technicians, paramedics and firefighters, has shown to be crucial in real-life situations when patients are brought to the emergency room exhibiting symptoms of heart attack. The simulation training, while impressively realistic, means trainees can practice their techniques without compromising the safety of a real patient.
The training consists of two sessions, both of which take place in Mayo's Simulation Center. The first, TeamSTEPPS Fundamentals Course, designed by the Health and Human Services Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Department of Defense Health Care Team Coordination Program and other collaborators, is classroom training. Based on 25 years of research about teamwork, it is an interactive workshop that focuses on leadership, and situational monitoring. The second session takes place in the Simulation Center's procedure rooms, where trainees participate in simulations with the mannequins exhibiting a STEMI, or a type of heart attack where blood supply is cut off to the myocardium (heart muscle.)
Additional training programs are scheduled. Paramedics from two Phoenix Fire Department stations and approximately 150 Mayo Clinic physicians, nurses and techs will participate in the program.
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About Mayo Clinic:
Recognizing 150 years of serving humanity in 2014, Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit worldwide leader in medical care, research and education for people from all walks of life. For more information, visit 150years.mayoclinic.org, www.mayoclinic.org and newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org.
