When Hurricane Katrina ripped through New Orleans, floodwaters engulfed LSU Health Sciences Center and wrecked, among other things in the building, four programmable mannequins, which students and residents used to practice their medical skills, The Times-Picayune reports.
The mannequins — known as patient simulators because they can mimic a wide range of conditions — were shipped to the manufacturer's Sarasota, Fla., office for what was called "the first simulator autopsy."
Four years later, the lab has been moved, and medical students have refurbished robots to once again use for practice. They give students a chance to practice such techniques as inserting a tube down a patient's windpipe without running the risk of breaking real teeth. Students use a virtual program that can tranform gadgets into an array of tools for procedures such as clipping and clamping on an organ or blood vessel that exists only on the screen. The machine is also programmed to show mistakes. The images of arteries and veins gush real-looking blood if an unsteady student punctures them.
"It's all fake, but it feels real, " said Dr. Vadym Rusnak, an instructor at the center.
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