Rural health care providers will advance skills through patient simulators

The North Dakota Area Health Education Center (ND AHEC) has received a one-year, $249,835 Recovery Act grant to purchase human patient simulators to train rural health care providers. The grant, titled Equipment to Enhance Training for Health Professionals, is from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration, Bureau of Health Professions. The high fidelity human patient simulators will be used to develop the Mobile Interdisciplinary Simulation team Skills program.

The new Skills program will provide innovative, continuing education courses on-site to rural critical access hospitals served by the three regional ND AHEC centers. The courses will be customized for rural emergency room staff and will consist of simulation training to improve essential emergency room skills and training and practice on ER teamwork. Students in the courses will include physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants, nurses, and emergency medical service personnel who work in rural emergency rooms and for ambulance services. The simulation equipment will also be available to increase health care awareness in youth by supporting applied training to students in health care facilities.

“This grant funding will provide our AHEC program with the opportunity to address the needs of our rural providers. Rural health care facilities have indicated a great deal of interest in continuing education opportunities, particularly those that are on-site,” said Patricia Moulton, PhD, principal investigator for the project and associate director of the ND AHEC at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences’ Department of Family and Community Medicine. “With health workforce shortages in many occupations, providers often have difficulty attending conferences and other training opportunities because there are few replacement providers.”

With the grant funds, the ND AHEC will purchase five patient simulators. SimMan 3G, an adult simulator, and SimBaby will be used to practice emergency room procedures and develop team skills. Also, a pediatric simulator will be used to enhance pediatric advanced life support classes (PALS), which rural facilities need for certification and training. A maternal and neonatal simulator, NOELLE, will be used to help keep rural providers current on birthing skills as well as to practice teamwork during simulated obstetric emergencies. And an Advanced Life Support Simulator will enhance advanced and basic cardiac life support certification and training.

“Our conversations with hospital personnel across the state have met with a great deal of excitement about the potential of having these simulators available in our rural facilities,” said Tony Scheerz, the Southwest AHEC director located in Hettinger, N.D.

“We have received many inquiries regarding when the simulators will be available for use,” said Bill Krivarchka, the Eastern AHEC director located in Mayville, N.D.”

“The ability to provide on-site simulation training to our rural facilities will allow for a broad range of training opportunities, certifications and increased clinical skills competency” said Roger Baier, CEO of Sanford Medical Center in Mayville. “This will be a regional rural community resource available to multidisciplinary health care professionals from organizations, educational facilities (K-16) and independent practitioners in rural North Dakota.”

“In rural health care, it is prudent for us to be prepared and ready for all scenarios—a jack of all trades,” said Trina Schilling, RN and CEO of Wishek Hospital Clinic Association. “This opportunity provided through AHEC, will supplement the enhancement of our skills by allowing us practice those scenarios that may not present themselves on a routine basis. We are very much in support of continuing education and keeping the standards of care on the forefront of how we administer care here; thus, to be able to embrace this opportunity of the education coming to our front door and not having to travel hundreds of miles away is going to be a true asset to our organization, professionals and the citizens we serve in the surrounding areas,” she said.

Dakota Medical Foundation, Fargo, has supported the infrastructure development of the ND AHEC. The foundation focuses its efforts on improving health and access to medical and dental care in the region, with a special emphasis on children.

“Providing rural North Dakota medical personnel with simulation equipment training is critical to preserving high-quality medical care,” said Pat Traynor, president of Dakota Medical Foundation. “Engaging students and rural youth through medical simulation technology will ensure future high-quality medical care.”

The ND AHEC’s mission is to enhance access to quality primary care and public health in rural and underserved areas by improving the supply and distribution of health care professionals through community and academic partnerships.

For more information on this planning grant, please contact Patricia Moulton at patricia.moulton@med.und.edu. For information on the North Dakota AHEC, please visit www.ndahec.org .