Training Dolly 'Sam' Arrives at Children's Hospital
Today, 4 year old patient Freddie met Wellington Children's Hospital's new training mannequin 'Sam', donated by Wellington Hospitals & Health Foundation.
Wellington Children's Hospital have today received a state of the art training mannequin thanks to community funding from the 2009 'Fresh Future Appeal' - an annual appeal run by Woolworths and Countdown Supermarkets.
A $6000 teaching doll imported from Germany will be used to demonstrate medical procedures to children needing treatment - and teach their parents how to carry them out. 'Sam' has interchangeable body parts and holes where injections, catheters and fluid lines can be inserted.
Freddie Day has anal stenosis and needs a gastrostomy tube inserted each day to clear waste from his digestive system. Freddie and his mother were the first patients to meet 'Sam'.
Clinical nurse specialist Jo Griffin used the Children's Hospital's new training mannequin 'Sam' yesterday for the first time, to show Freddie's mum how to insert the gastrostomy tube that he needs every day.
The doll, provided by the Wellington Hospitals and Health Foundation, was a big improvement on the hospital's current aids, Ms Griffin said.
"What we've had to do before is get dolls from The Warehouse that we've literally drilled holes in."
'Sam' would also be used to train staff how to do more complicated procedures.
The doll was amazing, Mrs Day said.
"It's nicer to practise on something that's not your own child."
Bill Day, Chair of Wellington Hospitals & Health Foundation, the official charity for Wellington Children's Hospital said the Foundation was delighted to be able to provide the purchase of the training doll which was ordered from Germany at a cost of $6,000
"The doll is almost life like" and just what the staff at Children's Hospital need to realistically train young patients who have complex illnesses, and their parents".
The realistic training doll will enable a multitude of training opportunities to be carried out by nursing staff. 'Sam' can be both male and female due to the interchangeable breast and abdominal wall and the abdominal walls are equipped with many parts and openings to enable a variety of training procedures which include stomach tube insertion through the nose and mouth, catherisation, tracheostomy through to wound care and suture removal.
