The School of Nursing is excited to announce the birth of baby Florence, born to Victoria—a $120,000 birthing mannequin, the newest addition to the school.
Florence was born at 11:30 a.m., weighs 3.6 kg and and is 54 cm in length with the help of Dara Johnson, RN perinatal clinical educator at Royal Inland Hospital. Students and donors were able to participate in the exciting delivery in room 331 at the nursing simulation learning centre in the Ken Lepin Science and Health Sciences Building. Both baby and mother performed well during the labour.
Funds to purchase Victoria were donated to the school by Ken and Maureen Lepin.
The life-sized interactive female mannequin is cutting-edge—full-body supple skin, seamless joints and fully operational in transit— providing nursing students with a nearly life-like labour experience. The state-of-the-art technology will enable students to practice caring for the mother and baby before, during and after the birth.
“We are very excited to have this caliber of fidelity mannequin available for our students,” said Dean of Nursing Donna Murnaghan.
“Victoria has the capacity to allow students to work through various stages of a pregnancy right up to a simulated birth. The faculty and simulation centre staff are able to program Victoria for students to experience a normal healthy birth as well as complex, emergency situations that require advanced assessments and critical action.”
The most advanced childbirth simulator on the market today, Victoria enables nursing educators to implement triage simulations and team training, and improve performance in areas where mistakes often occur.
President Alan Shaver with Ken Lepin and baby Florence at the School of Nursing’s live birthing demo.
“Not every student will get the chance to help a real patient through labour. Having this mannequin helps close the gap for those students unable to be involved in such an experience and helps them to better understand what happens pre- and post-labour,” said Jenn Sage, nursing student.
“I think this will benefit the School of Nursing as it allows the program to expand its focus from a generalized medical/surgical focus to include scenarios that are perhaps more critical,” she said.
The purchase of Victoria also signifies a move towards acquiring more training tools with advanced technology, as the school continues to fundraise for a Nursing and Population Health Building which will feature enhanced space for simulation labs, and a greater suite of training tools.
More information
Donna Murnaghan
Dean of the School of Nursing
250-852-7288
dmurnaghan@tru.ca
