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What’s bigger than a bloodmobile, travels on wheels and houses an entire patient simulator family? A Simulation in Motion - South Dakota traveling simulation lab. SIM South Dakota, a partnership between the South Dakota Department of Health and five hospitals, began delivering high-fidelity simulation instruction to rural emergency services providers in 2011.
The goal of the program, according to Administrator Sandra Durick, is to provide clinically contemporary education to every rural hospital ER and every Emergency Medical Service throughout South Dakota.
“As fascinating as the trucks are, it’s the educational programming that is the backbone to the whole project,” Durick says. The programming includes scenarios such as cardiac arrest, anaphylactic shock, and respiratory distress.
Each of the 44-foot, custom-built trucks, which were produced by Rosenbauer America, houses a simulated ambulance, emergency room and family of iStans, PediaSIMs and BabySIMs. The labs offer training scenarios to healthcare providers and volunteers who may only see a critically ill patient only once or twice a year, enhancing confidence, competency, communication and teamwork.
“We have seen fabulous results,” says Durick. “We’ve had phenomenal response from the EMS community and the rural hospital ER personnel, including physicians.”
