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SINGAPORE: Nanyang Polytechnic's (NYP) School of Health Sciences has brought in baby and child "simulators" to equip nursing students with the necessary clinical skills.
One of the mannequins is six-year-old Donny, who suffers from asthma attacks. He can cry, hiccup and even drool.
Donny is one of the two mannequins acquired for S$140,000 by NYP.
NYP believes handling younger patients may pose a greater challenge for its students.
"If you look at the paediatric patients, they are of various age groups. That means the maturation of their organs are at different stages, and therefore, the physiology is different, so their response to disease will be different from that of an adult, and the response to drug therapy will be different," said Pauline Chia, a lecturer at the School of Health Sciences at NYP.
The mannequins are built to accurately reflect the anatomy and physiology of humans, and come with veins and pupils.
Students can check for vital signs and even practise inserting intravenous needles. But the most valuable lesson is having realistic "feedback" from the patient.
A second-year student at the school, Sharanjit Kaur, said: "To have something real and talking to you, to elicit a response from something is better than having something lying motionless there."
Another second-year student, Marie Soh, said: "This simulated mannequin actually gives us more real responses compared to the low fidelity ones because you can actually see the blood pressure, the oxygen and everything. And they can actually talk to you, so you can look towards the psychological aspects of patient care and give more holistic care to the patient."
The school conducts half an hour training sessions once every semester. It is the first educational institute to use baby and child simulators, in addition to its four adult mannequins.
- CNA/yt
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