One nurse monitors the patient’s vital signs from the head of the bed while another performs CPR on what appears to be a semi-conscious, young boy in the Emergency Room at Aurora BayCare Medical Center.

It’s actually not an emergency at all.  This is the new Simulation Center at Aurora BayCare Medical Center, which offers their healthcare team a place to practice the latest techniques and technologies, before using them in a real-life, crisis setting.

“We can actually change blood pressure, change pulses, the mannequin can bleed,” explained Dr. Stephen Sehring, medical director of Women’s Health at Aurora BayCare Medical Center in Green Bay.

The center, also known as a “Sim Lab” allows healthcare providers to run through emergency scenarios in a non-emergency, but very realistic setting. 

Like the ER scenario, where Simulation Education Specialist, Lisa Resch recreates a critical case where emergency personnel go through the motions of resuscitating a young boy with an underlying asthma condition.

“Everybody have their proper PPE on?,” Resch asked the team. “Chelsea, hold compressions so I can see what rhythm we have here.   OK, resume compressions….”

“It prepares us for those unexpected, rare, but dangerous moments,” Sehring said. 

In fact, Sehring said one of those dangerous moments happened just recently.

“We had a rare event, something called a prolapsed umbilical cord,” Sehring explained, describing a potentially fatal situation for both mother and baby. “Our nurse, who’d done the simulation, performed beautifully.”

Sehring said the successful outcome of that crisis is a perfect example of how valuable this facility can be.

“The husband said, ‘You must see this all the time.’ and she said, `I’ve never seen it before but  I’ve done simulations for this,’” Sehring recalled. “He said, ‘Whoa, it seemed like you knew exactly what you were doing!,’ “So that’s a perfect example of just how helpful it can be.”

Yet, with all state of the art technology and techniques this new facility has to offer, clinicians say one of the most valuable  skills providers can practice here is good old fashioned communication.

“Especially in a critical situation,” Resch explained, “because when things go wrong, 99 percent of the time, it’s a communication issue.”

Aurora Baycare celebrated the opening of the state-of-the-art Simulation Center as part of its 20-year anniversary.

If you’d like more information go to aurorabaycare.com or use their LiveWell app, you can always just give them a call too: 1-866-938-0035 or email: healthwatch@aurorabaycare.com