FALL • 2011 31
www.carolinafirejournal.com
Carolina Fire Rescue EMS Journal
EMS The Money Matter: The dollars and sense of medical simulation SIMULATION TRAINING RETURN ON INVESTMENT
By Amar Patel WakeMed Health and Hospitals In the first article of this four-part series on medical simulation and gaming, I encouraged you to consider using innovation when educating your first responder staff members. The best way for educators to convey information and have students retain that information is to make learning fun, interesting and interactive. With the rise of technology has come the rise of technologybased educational programs, and there is an ever-increasing demand for programs that allow the student to learn on their own time, complete their coursework, have fun and be able to immediately apply what they’ve learned. More and more people are asking for flexible educational programs allowing them to work, attend school and take care of family simultaneously. And with small budgets and unique learning needs, education has to be offered in a creative way. My second article explained some of the major challenges faced by first responders who serve in rural areas, as they have limited access to hightech training opportunities. Rural emergency medicine offers specific challenges, like longer response times, sicker patients prior to EMS arrival, and longer transport time to a care facility. Combined with the fact that the first person to respond at the scene of an accident could be the only responder for an extended period of time, these pressures can cause caregivers to make unnecessary mistakes. However, thanks to evolving training opportunities — specifically, simulation-based class-
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es and programs developed for rural providers and hospitals — these mistakes aren’t inevitable. Simulation training is important so firefighters, nurses, law enforcement officers and EMS professionals can benefit from real-life simulated cross-training. Education, practice and re-education are critical if these first responders are to become more comfortable and more adept at caring for the sick and critically ill. The third article in this series emphasized the importance of preparation and the role it plays in our lives as emergency re-
sponders. Preparation can mean the difference between life and death for the people whose fate we hold in our hands. As caregivers, we have to professionally prepare ourselves for the common and not-so-common 9-1-1 calls we could receive at any time of the day or night. That preparation can be found in an unlikely place — simulation gaming. While numerous other industries embraced simulation decades ago, health care has been relatively slow to catch on for three primary reasons: • Skepticism on the part of
an older generation of caregivers who learned their skills through traditional methods • Limited information sharing until just the last two decades • The lack of long-term data to prove claims that caregivers’ performance improves due to the use of simulation, a reason that flies in the face of evidencebased science and medicine. However, simulation and gaming hold so much potential when it comes to teaching first
responders, the pros far outweigh the cons. In this fourth and final article, we’ll get down to brass tacks: how much money does simulation actually cost, and how do the return on investment and the return on expectation compare? Can we learn from other industries that have used simulation training with great success?
The MERI: An Investment in Education When it comes to medical See MONEY MATTER page 32
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Introducing the 2010 Mirage EX Sprinter, the new kid on the road that you’ll be hearing a lot about. For 50 years, Demers has been quietly, obsessively engineering ambulances with the kind of innovations that are changing the way we think about safety. Things like Demers-exclusive high-strength aluminum extrusion construction, the first heads-up console, and the Mirage EX Sprinter aerodynamic front cab riser and rear spoiler with incorporated LED warning lights, unique in the industry. Detail by detail, Demers has been raising the bar, in an industry where every detail matters. For more information contact: James
Olson at Affordable Ambulance, LLC Phone: 678-787-1900 Email: j.olson@earthlink.net Call 1-800-363-7591 or go to www.demers-ambulances.com