The Foundation was pleased to recently fund a Sternotomy Mannequin for the Intensive Care Unit at Wellington Regional Hospital.
Using mannequins in clinical simulations allows future and current clinicians to ‘practice on plastic’ first. The Sternotomy mannequin is used for Cardiothoracic Life Support (CALS) courses, which lets physicians train for surgeries in which an incision is made along the breastbone/sternum so that the chest can be opened or ‘cracked’. This procedure provides access to the heart and lungs for surgical procedures such as heart transplants, corrective surgery for congenital heart defects, or coronary artery bypass surgery.
We are delighted that this mannequin will enable our ICU teams to run further CALS courses in the future.
Karyn Hathaway, Clinical Nurse Specialist, ICU Flight Service and Rebecca James, Associate Charge Nurse Manager, ICU with the new mannequin
Simulated chest opening procedure