FORT MYERS, Fla. — Students at Florida Gulf Coast University are getting a hands-on experience learning how to diagnose and treat COVID-19.
Through human simulators purchased from a Sarasota company, CAE Healthcare, FGCU students are able to learn more about how to recognize COVID.
"The simulators can make sounds. They have pulses. Their eyes move. They can talk to the patients. They have all of the cardiac and respiratory changes, so the students can listen to the mannequin to the simulator breathe. They can hear the various lung sounds," explained Robert Hawkes, director of the Physician Assistant Program at Florida Gulf Coast University.
"So if they have congestion in their lungs, like many COVID patients do, the students are able to respond to that," he added.
Hawkes explained, when the simulators show symptoms of COVID, students can try different treatments.
"They can ventilate the simulator," Hawkes said. "They can even put them on a ventilator."
These simulators are not cheap. According to Hawkes, the simulator costs between $75,000 and $100,000. Students in the physician assistant program said the price is well worth the education they are gaining.
"Through the simulators, we are able to learn heart and breath sounds. We are also able to learn how to palpate pulses, give treatments, perform CPR on the simulators, and it gives immediate feedback to our professors so they can tell us if we are listening in the correct spot or giving enough pressure for CPR," FGCU physician assistant student Megan Thilmony said.
The simulators can be adjusted to have symptoms from mild to serious. Based on that, students can figure out the best way to treat each patient.
"I definitely think the breath sounds have been super helpful. We get to listen and change the breath sounds and practice and compare them to normal before we go out and listen on a real patient. That way, we can identify abnormal sounds in the real world," Thilmony explained.
Other colleges in Florida, like Suncoast Technical College, are also using these simulators to teach students about COVID.
Hawkes believes these are very important, especially as the virus continues to mutate.
"As we see these variants coming about, we're certainly seeing the Omicron variant right now. This will help our students be prepared to adapt to the changes and the variations that we're seeing with this variant," Hawkes stated.