While most mothers would prefer to have their babies in a hospital or other controlled environment, there are times when they just can’t make it there. To help future paramedics train for those situations, REMSA is using a "robotic birthing simulation manikin." This manikin is not like something you would see at the mall, or even like the CPR dummies one would use to practice on. This one talks, can mimic common birthing complications, and even push a baby manikin out.
Meet Noelle, REMSA's latest tool in teaching future paramedics what they need to know to deliver a baby in the field---
“The birthing simulator does everything from bleeding, the real live pushing, we can do vitals on her, blood pressure, pulse, if we needed to do a cardiac arrest we can do that on her as well,” said Jenny Walters, Senior Education Coordinator for REMSA.
Student paramedics can also start IV's on Noelle, start breathing treatments, and even take blood pressure. Noelle even asks for pain killers.
“Noelle can talk to the students, they can interact with her by asking her questions and she can respond accordingly, she screams, she will push out the baby all on her own," said Walters.
While it may seem trivial to have a talking robot, it actually is a big help to paramedic students. This allows them to react to different circumstances, as teachers provide both exercises with normal delivery and also some with complications.
“We are used to just kinda asking questions blindly and just expecting certain answers because we are trained a certain way, but having a dummy that interacts with us...we have to pause, we have to listen, we have to process that information and then respond, so it's way more comprehensive than having a dummy who doesn't talk to us," said REMSA Paramedic Student and North Lake Tahoe Firefighter Courtney Kollasch. While she has not yet had a call to assist in a delivery, Kollasch says now feels ready if one comes down the line. “We got the chance to play with a pretty high-tech mannequin that runs us through a basic delivery and what we can expect as medics in the field."
REMSA says while it's not a daily event, they do assist mothers who have surprise births. In fact last year alone REMSA paramedics responded to 102 calls for women in labor.
