Wisc. Providers Polish Skills at New Training Center

JANESVILLE, Wis., July 18 -- Loud music filled the dark room as colorful lights swirled and partiers danced.

On the floor, a beer can sat beside a young man passed out with white powder around his nose.

"My name is Jamie, I'm a paramedic," one of three men said as the first responders rushed to the partier's side.

Over the next 15 minutes, the team led by Jamie Wichser of Orfordville and two additional paramedics called to the scene worked to resuscitate the man, whom they suspected had overdosed on narcotics and was in cardiac arrest.

While they worked in the distracting environment, the bar owner walked over to complain that they needed to get the patient out of his business so customers could get their drinks.

After radioing hospital staff to give a summary of the patient, the training scenario ended when a voice from behind a one-way mirror announced the man lived to overdose another day.

The simulation was one of many that paramedic students at Mercy Regional EMS Training Center are encountering using a patient simulator, METIman, in a new lab.

When the expansion is complete later this year in the old Dean Riverview Clinic building that Mercy bought, the new center will be nearly three times the size it was in the basement of Mercy's cancer center.

Mercy's new training center is a $1.2 million investment, not counting additional instructors, who plan next year to double the number of paramedics they turn out compared to previous years.

More paramedics are needed, said Dr. Jay MacNeal, EMS medical director and emergency physician, but not just to fill fire department and private EMS jobs.

"The future of health care is going to rely heavily on paraprofessionals -- the nurse practitioners, the PAs and paramedics," he said.

One ongoing discussion he's having, he said, is about community paramedics who could check on people in their homes as providers try to keep people in their homes longer as they age.

"As managed care moves forward, I think paramedics are going to play an important role in the future of health care, so we're not just training them for paramedic jobs, per se, but we're training them for other things," he said.

Janesville Fire Department Deputy Chief of EMS Gerry Luiting said new training options through Mercy and Blackhawk Technical College will reach a larger demographic of students. He agreed the job scope of paramedics is changing, comparing it to the nursing field.

"As times change, occupations change, and this is no different," he said.

The Mercy training center in previous years had 10 students in its full-time, seven-month paramedic course. This year, it accepted 13, and MacNeal said the center plans to train 20 students next year by adding a yearlong, part-time course.

MacNeal said he thinks the part-time course will attract working people seeking a second career or full-time EMTs who want to become paramedics.

The new simulation lab lets instructors to use the METIman to its full potential, unlike in the cramped quarters before the move. The mechanical man contains a computer and router -- he's wireless. He can talk, bleed, change his pupils and even become a woman. In a few weeks, the center will add a child-size simulator.

In the past, students worked with a dummy while instructors next to them explained what conditions the dummy was suffering from, EMS instructor Frank Jonczyk said.

"It's not that realistic, whereas this, they are literally getting most of the information from the simulator," he said. "We're in a different room, so they can't turn to us."

Luiting said METIman is a great bridge between practicing on a simple mannequin and working on real patients.

"METIman really closes that gap in learning," he said.

Behind the one-way glass, Jonczyk and his colleagues watched the students while monitoring Meti's vitals on a laptop and making notes and jotting questions on a computer timeline.

The projector and music creating the club scene were distracting at first, Wichser said, but it forced students to block everything and focus on the patient.

After the exercise, instructors and students watched the video recording of the simulation. Instructor Rob Calhoon commended the students for their work, but pointed out they could have taken a few seconds to move the patient away from the wall for a better workspace and could have called police to help control the distracting bar environment.

Meti's day didn't get any easier. By afternoon, he was set to have his leg cut off in a chainsaw accident and be bleeding all over the floor when the next set of students arrived.

Copyright 2013 - The Janesville Gazette, Wis.