BOONEVILLE, Miss. (WTVA) - "Oh I can't breath and my chest hurts. Help!" a mannequin said.
No you're not misreading things.
"I've had the pain for a couple of hours now," the mannequin said.
Yes, the mannequin really talks.
"I'm really hungry," the mannequin said.
Northeast Mississippi Community College changes its learning curve with its simulation lab to put its nursing students on the front line to deal with trauma situations.
"He's got some lacerations to the head, neck, trauma to the face," Dana Lee, a nursing student said.
Lee tells us the lab test can be tough.
"Well they already put us through some of those tests right now where we have to come in and participate and we don't really know what's going on with our patient," Lee said
She said she's happy because it gives her a chance to test her skills.
"We assess the patient and things just start happening and you have to think on your feet," Lee said. "You have to start you know falling back on the nursing process to try and figure out what is wrong."
The patients respond to the students when the students ask questions. Nursing students said that gives them the chance to figure out how they would react in a real life situation.
Holly Corbin, a student, said going through the simulation gives her assurance that she will be ready if a lab situation ever happens once she's working daily in the nursing field.
"You can relate reality when you actually get out in the real world"
Lori Blansett, who is also a nursing student, said the different scenarios give her an experience that could be life threatening in a real situation without what could be real life consequences .
"The biggest benefit for me is that I get to combine theory and get to practice it in a safe, clinical environment," Blansett said.
Sherri Shadburn, Northeast Mississippi Community College's Division Head of Health Sciences agrees with Blansett.
"We let them even do things that maybe as an instructor we would save them in the clinical error because we don't want them to injure a patient. Here we can let them see the consequences of certain errors," Shadburn said.
Instructors said the ultimate goal is to teach students about saving lives while using the pressure of real life conditions. The labs are recorded so professors can go back and review the session with students. The sim lab is possible through grant money. Instructors say this type of lab is something you would normally find in a lab for students who are studying to be doctors.
