Baby simulator training funded

The Kaua‘i Veterans Memorial Hospital Charitable Foundation received a $22,000 grant from the Annie Sinclair Knudsen Fund of the Hawai’i Community Foundation to support Baby Simulator Training (an advanced nursing training program).

In a press release, board president of Kaua‘i Veterans Memorial Charitable Foundation, Linda Collins, said the funds will be used to provide advanced on-going training for nurses using baby simulators for advanced care of newborns.

Advanced nurse training was started by the family birth unit at West Kaua‘i Medical Center to give the nursing staff preparation for all possible circumstances in caring for newborns and babies.

The simulators take it a step further in giving the nurses confidence in their training to perform critical procedures. 

Nurses can train in any scenario to learn and practice critical skills. Using a laptop, the trainer controls the symptoms of the baby while the team responds and works just as if it were a real situation. They take vital signs, make diagnoses and respond with appropriate procedures.

Simulators are designed to respond to treatment.

For example, after diagnosing a collapsed lung, the team inserts a catheter through the skin and between the ribs that allows air in the chest cavity to escape and a collapsed lung to reinflate.

The simulator baby responds with the oxygen saturation rate rising steadily to 100 percent. The baby rests, his heart beat now normal and his chest rising and falling in a stable rhythm.

Studies show that training on simulators increases the retention of skills and knowledge better than receiving conventional training. With simulators the nurses can maintain their competencies and learn the latest techniques in a realistic way.

West Kaua‘i Medical Center’s Family Birth unit has become very popular with mothers across the island. This past year more than 250 babies were delivered on Kaua‘i.