Cutting-edge training tool

ALMOST LIKE THE REAL THING: The team who took part in the first Trauma NetworkZ training programme used a high-tech patient simulator in the emergency department at Gisborne Hospital. From left are Dr Paige Hudson (Head Of Emergency Department Gis Hospital), Jackie Clapperton and Shane Clapperton (St John), Kaylene Henderson (NetworkZ programme manager), Karen MacDonald (trauma nurse), Katrina Potter (ED nurse), Deon Stoltz (anaesthetist). Picture by Liam Clayton

A multi-disciplinary emergency department team have had a training session with a difference at Gisborne Hospital.

They worked on a patient that can breathe, register a pulse at the ankle and wrist, moan, scream and cough . . . but is not human.

The patient was a life-like mannequin operated by hi-tech software and was used in the training where the team had to respond to an emergency scenario.

The training was provided by NetworkZ, a national team training intervention programme for surgical teams funded by Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) and led by Professor Jennifer Weller from the University of Auckland

NetworkZ programme manager and instructor, Kaylene Henderson said the training was well received by everyone who attended and helped implement the session.

The participants worked extremely well together responding to a realistic trauma scenario, she said.

A four-hour training session involved a team of people who would normally be called to a trauma in the hospital — the emergency department doctors and nurses, anaesthetist, radiology department and St John Ambulance.

Surgical training in the operating theatres at Gisborne Hospital started in 2017 and takes place three times a year, but this was a first time it had been done in the emergency department.

The ED training — NetworkZ — is the second tier rollout of the programme funded by the National Trauma Network and ACC.

The mannequin, gifted to Gisborne Hospital as part of NetworkZ, is realistic. Its pupils dilate, its chest rises and falls with respiration, and it can be intubated.

“We also have these bespoke trauma and surgical models that are made of silicone, and these can bleed a lot,” said Ms Henderson.

“The teams have to problem solve an evolving situation, often with active bleeding, and try to diagnose what the problem is and then develop the path of treatment.

“In the operating theatre we have various models — an abdominal surgical model and others with post op bleeding. New models were created to augment the ED training.”

The training is designed for multi-disciplinary teams in acute care settings.

“The ‘patient’ arrives outside the hospital with ambulance staff bringing it in on a gurney like they normally would.

“So we are looking at the handover of care, information passed on, leadership and communication.

“Basically, this is the training for any acute care team who come together, where there is indecision and a changing landscape of patient care.

“Because it’s in situ, in their emergency department, the focus is on systems and processes — ergonomics — the equipment they bring in, and how the environment and processes work.”

The training also focuses on how they can do things better around communication — speaking up if they see a problem, how they regroup or recap for the team to be able to refocus if there’s a change in direction, or just bringing people up to speed about where they are at with the management of the patient.

“One example is we look at the time to get blood if they are doing a transfusion. The blood bank has been involved over the past three years, supporting the training by providing mock blood to the scene if needed.

“They are a stunning team here at Gisborne Hospital,” said Ms Hendrson. “They just make things happen.”

The programme is also supported by the Health Quality and Safety Commission.

The goal is to improve the safety and efficiency of care for patients and is part of ACC injury preventative programme.