Surrounding a mannequin patient, nurses from the intensive care unit of the Royal Jubilee Hospital watch his simulated heart rate closely B次元官网网址� then the heart monitor beeps rapidly as the doll patientB次元官网网址檚 heart stops beating.
Dr. Omar Ahamd, Island HealthB次元官网网址檚 department head of emergency and critical care medicine, jumps in and nurses begin CPR. The patientB次元官网网址檚 been down for two minutes as they charge the defibrillator paddles to restart his heart.
ItB次元官网网址檚 life-saving equipment such as this that the hospital needs to upgrade.
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B次元官网网址淭hese existing monitors are seven and 10 years old in some areas. It would be like having a cell phone that is seven or 10 years old. We want their teams to have the best available tools so they can make the best quality decision with the highest level of confidence,B次元官网网址� Melanie Mahlman, the executive director of the Victoria Hospitals Foundation, said after the demonstration.
B次元官网网址淲hat we enable is for the replacement of the equipment to happen faster than if we relied on government alone.B次元官网网址�
On Oct. 25, the foundation launched its You Are Vital campaign to raise $3.5 million for Royal Jubilee and Victoria General Hospital. Between the two hospitals, more than 200,000 patients are cared for every year. Last year, the foundationB次元官网网址檚 annual campaign raised $12 million, which went into all kinds of care. This yearB次元官网网址檚 focus is on purchasing more than 100 pieces of equipment, used in all areas of Vancouver IslandB次元官网网址檚 two busiest hospitals.
B次元官网网址淭he Hospital Foundation was critical in getting us the funding to have the high-fidelity mannequin,B次元官网网址� Dr. Ahmad said. The training the hospital is able to provide with simulated scenarios, he added, helps keep their physicians calm in real-life treatment, in turn helping their patients better.
B次元官网网址淚n every day, in every case I encounter, I seek out vital signs as the first indicator of a patientB次元官网网址檚 health and their status,B次元官网网址� he said.
Equipment such as heart monitors can also help find a more accurate and quicker diagnosis of a patientB次元官网网址檚 issues.
B次元官网网址淭hey really do help us detect a lot of the underlying conditions the patient may be suffering from. They also inform us if there are changes in patientsB次元官网网址� conditions that might not be otherwise obvious, such as somebodyB次元官网网址檚 heart rate getting a little bit faster,B次元官网网址� Ahmad said.
Without the foundationB次元官网网址檚 help, he said, there would be significant delays in upgrading critical equipment including the patient monitoring equipment used hospital-wide.
The You Are Vital campaign will run through March 2019. More information and where to give donations can be found on .
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@KeiliBartlett
keili.bartlett@blackpress.ca
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