Wearable Healthcare Simulators Lead to Better Prepared Learners

There are a lot of industries that use clinical simulation in their training, none more noticeable than healthcare education. The simulations in healthcare education can be implemented with a multitude of solutions, with some of the most common being manikin simulators, simulations only using Simulated Participant/Standardized Patient (SP), and hybrid simulation with an SP and wearable simulators. Community colleges or universities looking for an innovative way to integrate healthcare simulations can look to the hybrid simulation approach, which involves using wearable simulators and live people to maximize each simulation experience. Medical technology manufacturer Avkin is one clinical simulation company helping to increase the use of this approach through the development of wearable simualtors.

Unlike manikin simulations which only allow learners to practice procedural skills, high-fidelity wearable simulators provide learners with the ability to practice communication skills. This will in turn help prepare them for the real world in addition to procedural skills. Studies have shown that hybrid simulations perform equally as well as manikin-based simulations. This allows the learner to practice procedural skills but outperforms mankins in presenting them with a better environment to practice patient-caregiver interactions (communication skills) (Brown, 2020).

Further, Avkin’s innovative technology provides the simulated participant with the ability to physically wear a healthcare simulation product and act out a medical simulation scenario with a learner. Then, the learner can be tasked with completing a medical procedure while using their communication skills to interact with a live patient (actor). The company reports that customers are blown away by the many different ways, their Avkin wearable simulators have helped improve their learners’ experiences.

“After the first time using Avkin wearables for skills training, I felt that my students actually participated in a real clinical experience! I found that my students demonstrated more empathy for patients after using Avkin (products) than they did not display after using a Simulation Manikin. I really cannot speak enough about how these products are improving my student’s theory application in the clinical environment and the improvement my students have shown with their skills and dexterity,” said Sarah Findley, assistant director at Bakersfield Nursing School.

Product Spotlight:

Avthor: Avthor is a comprehensive chest tube simulator designed to provide learners with an authentic bedside experience. A pressurized system mimics intrathoracic pressure ensuring accurate tidaling and fluctuation. Learners can accurately assess their patient’s chest tube by observing the tidaling and fluctuation of the closed chest tube drainage system. Optional inserts allow the learners to assess their patients’ crepitus during the simulation. Learners can practice moving the patient along with critical communication skills.

Avwound: A wearable wound simulator, Avwound, allows your learners the ability to manage various wounds, providing a unique experience. Learners are able to practice communication skills while being exposed to a broad range of wound care in various locations on the body such as the thigh, hip, and shoulder, making the Avwound the best learning device for wound care scenarios. This is the only product that offers simulated exudate, enhancing the realism of the simulation experience. Allow learners to assess the skin for blanching depending on the stage of the wound.

Avcath: Avcath is a wearable urinary catheterization simulator offering the ability to perform high-fidelity simulations in nursing education. Learners have the opportunity to practice male and female urinary catheterization. Male and female standardized patients will be cued when the catheter enters the bladder. The Avcath can be bladder scanned, palpated, and betadine and lubricant can be used on this product without causing any stains. The combination of Avkin’s scenarios and Avcath will provide your learners the opportunity to have a complete patient-centered experience.

Avtone: Avtone is the best product in the auscultation simulation market. Speakers play authentic heart and lung sounds, so learners gain a realistic learning experience. Using landmarks, learners can assess simulated patients’ lung sounds in real-time with their stethoscopes. The Avkin app also gives the educator complete control over heart and lung sounds, which allows for a wide range of learning scenarios.

Along with offering 8 wearable simulators, Avkin also provides consulting for customers that are looking to build out a dynamic simulated participant(SP) program. If you love the idea of wearable simulators and want to upgrade your simulation center, Avkin offers a Manikin Replacement Package that provides you with seven of our wearable simulators. Click the link below to explore all of Avkin’s high-fidelity wearable simulators and packages that are sure to make your Sim Center stand out!

IMSH 2022 Vendor Demo: Avbirth Wearable Birthing Simulator

Showcased at IMSH 2022, Avkin’s Avbirth has become a maternal-fetal “game-changer.” The technological advancements, wearable design, and pre-programmed simulations set his technology apart as the gold standard for maternal-fetal simulation education. Further, the tetherless wearable birthing simulator has been designed to:

• Authentically simulate all stages of childbirth.
• Closely mimic the physiology of the birthing process.
• Cue the “mother” during contractions via haptic vibrations.
• Replicate obstetrical emergencies commonly encountered in marginalized populations.

The “simulated mother” can ambulate untethered during early labor, promoting dilation, and effacement as they transition to active labor. Learners can now realistically practice coaching through a contraction because the mother and support person can both receive haptic signals at the wrist that follow the ebb and flow of the contraction.

Through Bluetooth connection of Avbirth to the Avkin App, the healthcare simulation facilitator can program the release of amniotic fluid and/or blood at any stage of labor. This technology enhances the assessment throughout the birthing process for the learners to practice needed communication skills and make clinical judgments about the health and well-being of both the mother and infant throughout labor and delivery.

Overall, Avbirth is setting the standard for childbirth education in healthcare simulation. The solution is easy to set up, re-rack, and clean up. Plus, Avkin’s team of designers and engineers focused on combining just the right amount of technology to provide you with a broad range of maternal-fetal simulations while keeping Avbirth an easy plug-and-play solution, seamlessly filling the void and inconsistencies of clinical learning.

In this video demonstration, a delivery using Avbirth can be seen. The simulated patient begins at 10 centimeters dilated and begins pushing. Those involved in the simulated birth are able to see which responsibilities must be delegated, and experience how the birthing process progresses.

More About Avkin

Avkin is a manufacturer of wearable devices for use in healthcare simulations and is a consultant for standardized patient programs. ​​Founded by a nurse educator, Avkin provides a simulation solution that combines the best of high-fidelity mannequins and the realism of standardized patients for the most authentic simulation experience possible. The company believes that the key to success in patient-centered care is practitioner training through realistic healthcare simulations and that human interaction is irreplaceable in clinical education.

Rooted in the Latin words, “Akin” and “Vera,” Avkin is the combination of the two. With Akin meaning ‘of similar character,’ and vera meaning ‘truth,’ our goal has always been to create the best quality products that allow for education to be ‘of similar character’ and ‘true’ to what the learners will experience in real life.

Learn More About Avkin Wearable Simulators

Reference:
Brown, W.J., Tortorella, R.A.W. Hybrid medical simulation – a systematic literature review. Smart Learn. Environ. 7, 16 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40561-020-00127-6

Today’s article was guest authored by Ankit Patel, a Marketing Associate at Avkin.

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