It breathes. It talks. It does everything a human being can do but more importantly, the Nursing Kelly manikin simulator is teaching students in the Indiana University East School of Nursing program how to deal with and treat real-life situations.

The nursing program has added four new Nursing Kelly simulators to its learning laboratories this summer. The simulators were purchased with funds raised through the Campaign for Community, which concluded in 2005 and generated over $2.1 million for IU East.

“The simulators are a positive because it gives our students the opportunity to practice real-world skills and critical thinking while in a safe environment,” said Karen Clark, dean of the School of Nursing. “This is a teaching tool the students can use to reflect on their performance.”

Each of the life-like Kelly manikins is a full-body adult. Nursing faculty can use pre-programmed scenarios or change the situation in order to train students as needed. Students can take care of patients that have experienced trauma or nuclear, biological and chemical situations. Students can listen to the heart rate, take the patient’s blood pressure and even give an injection.

Students have worked on a simulator in the past. SimMan, a full-scale patient simulator, has been a part of the nursing lab for the past year. Clark said the simulators have been fully integrated into the nursing classes and very little pretend scenarios are used. This gives students an added advantage to learning any situation.

In the future, the nursing program plans to add a Nursing Anne to the lab. This simulator will provide students the opportunity to develop obstetrics, labor and delivery and post-partum care skills.

For more information about the School of Nursing or the manikin simulators, contact the School of Nursing at (765) 973-8213.