Arizona Training Hospital Uses Fake Patients
National Public Radio/KJZZ
MESA, Ariz. (Oct. 13, 2009) -- Hospital errors account for more deaths in the United States than car wrecks and breast cancer. And those mistakes cost money.
One health care provider wants to reduce that cost — and make patients safer in the process — by training doctors and nurses with fake patients.
Banner Health in Arizona is about to open this hospital ghost town of sorts. Lifeless mannequins will bleed, burp and give birth in the center's ICU and emergency room.
Thomas McTool is a middle-aged man made of plastic and rubber tubes. He came to the ICU two days ago complaining of chest pains, and now he's hooked up to machines that measure his breathing and blood pressure. In a room around the corner, a real person controls the mannequin's voice and vital signs.
