A posthuman ecology of simulated human patients: Eidolons, empathy and fidelity in the uncanny embodiment of nursing practice

The reproduction of the human form has been a universal practice amongst human ecologies for millennia. Over the past 200 years, popular culture has considered the imaginary consequences of the danger to humanity and human-ness of replicating the autonomous human form too faithfully. Today, the seductive allure of technologically advanced simulated human bodies and advances in robotics and artificial intelligence has brought us closer to facing this possibility. Alongside the simultaneous aversion and fascination of the possibility that autonomous simulated human forms may become indistinguishable from human beings is the deep-rooted uncanniness of the automaton in its strange familiarity – not only to ourselves but to our pleasant childhood imaginings of playing with dolls. As such, simulated human bodies are often enrolled in medical and nursing education models with the assumption that making the simulation teaching spaces seem as close to clinical spaces as possible will allow students to practise potentially harmful clinical skills without causing any harm to human patients. However similar the simulated human bodies may appear to a living, breathing human, a tension between the embodiment of particularly human attributes and their replication persists. How can computerized human patient simulators be enrolled to teach people to develop the necessary attributes of compassion and empathy when caring for human beings? This article explores the uncanny ecologies of simulated human patients in nursing education by presenting a posthuman analysis of the practices of nurse educators as they enrol these digital objects in their teaching. Guided by a selection of heuristics offered as a mode of interviewing digital objects, the analysis enrolled ‘Gathering Anecdotes’ and ‘Unravelling Translations’ to attune to the ways in which these uncanny posthuman assemblages become powerful modes of knowing to mobilize learning about human attributes within uncanny posthuman ecologies.

Promoting experiential learning through the use of high-fidelity human patient simulators in midwifery: A qualitative study

Background: The need to use innovative teaching and learning strategies in the nursing pedagogy is important in the 21st century. The challenges of clinical sites and opportunities for nursing students to gain clinical experience are a growing concern for many nurse educators. High-fidelity human patient simulators (HFHPS) are computerised mannequins that replicate a real-life patient, and when integrated into classroom teaching they allow students to become fully immersed into an almost real-life scenario.Objectives: The aim of this study was to describe how HFHPS can promote experiential learning following the management of postpartum haemorrhage as a midwifery clinical emergency.Method: A descriptive qualitative research approach was carried out in this study. The research setting was a local university in KwaZulu-Natal. The total population included all (N = 43) fourth-year baccalaureate of nursing undergraduate student midwives who participated as observers and/or role-players of a scenario role-play. An all-inclusive sampling was performed. There were 43 student midwives involved in the simulation teaching session with 6 of these students actively participating in each role-play at a time, while the remaining 37 observed. This occurred in two separate sessions and all the student midwives were involved in a debriefing session. These student midwives were then followed up and asked to participate in a focus group. The data in this article came from two separate focus groups which comprised 20 student midwives in total. Data were analysed using content analysis.Results: Four categories emerged from the data, namely HFHPS offers a unique opportunity for student midwives to manage complex real-life emergencies; promotes reflection by allowing student midwives to reflect or review their roles, decisions and skills; allows student midwives to learn from their own experiences and encourages student midwives to try out what they learnt in a real-life situation.Conclusion: High-fidelity human patient simulators can be used in a complex case scenario to promote experiential learning of a clinical emergency.

Shining a Spotlight on Interprofessional Education & Evaluating an Interprofessional Pediatrics Educational Module Using Simulation

Interprofessional Education (IPE) occurs when two or more professions learn from, with, and about one another. There is a growing body of research indicating that IPE leads to enhanced professional practice, improved knowledge and skills, more enjoyable learning experiences, and can result in long term cost control from overall improvements in patient safety. Simulation learning, or the reenactment of routine or critical clinical events is now being incorporated into many IPE programs. Program participants work together to perform emergent care skills and scenarios in a controlled environment on high‐fidelity human patient simulators. Interprofessional collaboration and simulation is essential in pediatric care asit contributes to overall patient wellbeing and offers an opportunity to practice the skills used in an acute care incident, events that occur at low frequency in childhood. A research study through the Faculty of Health Sciences, evaluates the introduction of an interprofessional pediatrics educational module amongst nursing and medical students at Queen’s University. This study is part of an innovative pilot project aimed at improving patient welfare and safety through interprofessional health education using patient simulators.

High-fidelity Human Patient Simulators Compared with Human Actors in an Unannounced Mass-Casualty Exercise

High-fidelity simulators (HFSs) have been shown to prompt critical actions at a level equal to that of trained human actors (HAs) and increase perceived realism in intrahospital mass-casualty incident (MCI) exercises. For unannounced prehospital MCI exercises, however, no data are available about the feasibility of incorporating HFSs. This case report describes the integration of HFSs in such an unannounced prehospital MCI drill with HAs and provides data about the differences concerning triage, treatment, and transport of HFSs and HAs with identical injury patterns. For this purpose, 75 actors and four high-fidelity simulators were subdivided into nine groups defined by a specific injury pattern. Four HFSs and six HAs comprised a group suffering from traumatic brain injury and blunt abdominal trauma. Triage results, times for transport, and number of diagnostic and therapeutic tasks were recorded. Means were compared by t test or one-way ANOVA.Triage times and results did not differ between actors and simulators. The number of diagnostic (1.25, SD = 0.5 in simulators vs 3.5, SD = 1.05 in HAs; P = .010) and therapeutic tasks (2.0, SD = 1.6 in simulators vs 4.8, SD = 0.4 in HAs; P = .019) were significantly lower in simulators. Due to difficulties in treating and evacuating the casualties from the site of the accident in a timely manner, all simulators died. Possible causal factors and strategies are discussed, with the aim of increasing the utility of simulators in emergency medicine training.SchulzCM, SkrzypczakM, RaithS, HinzmannD, KrautheimV, HeuserF, MayerV, KreuzerC, HimslM, HollM, LippC, KochsEF, WagnerKJ. High-fidelity human patient simulators compared with human actors in an unannounced mass-casualty exercise. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2014;29(2):1-7.