Traveling simulation lab comes to the Cape Fear area for the first time

WILMINGTON, NC( WECT) - Whether it's a child choking on an object or an adult going into heart failure, doctors, nurses and EMS responders see near-death experiences everyday.

Of course, a quick response time and a lot of experience play a role in the outcome of those emergencies.

Coastal Carolinas Health Alliance recently got a mobile simulation lab which operates as a functional hospital room, offering trainees real-life scenarios that can be practiced on life-like human simulator models. The mobile unit is just one of four that exist on the entire east coast.

The practice dummies in the lab offer a wide variety of emergency room scenarios like childbirth and heart attacks.

Each dummy costs around $100,000 and for example, they blink their eyes, speak, sweat and even bleed.

The lab simulation exercises help doctors and nurses get their required 15 continuing education unit hours a year.

CCHA was able to build the traveling lab through grant money.

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