Northern Marianas College nursing students Tioni Reyes and Suah Sakisat, along with their instructor Dr. Ji Hye Lee, conduct a simulation in the newly opened Health Simulation Center at NMC. The center, which is funded by the NMC Area Health Education Center, is a modern facility designed to offer nursing and other allied health students a chance to practice in lifelike scenarios relevant to their future healthcare roles. It includes high-quality patient manikins in a simulated hospital room, equipped with a control room for the instructor.
Led by Gov. Arnold I. Palacios, a ribbon-cutting ceremony marked the opening of the NMC Health Simulation Center on Monday.
NORTHERN Marianas College officially opened its Health Simulation Center at its As Terlaje Campus with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Monday, Nov. 13.
According to NMC Area Health Education Center Director Les Ogumoro-Uludong, the center is where nursing students and health professionals can practice medical skills in a “safe and controlled environment.”
Variety toured the center alongside CNMI officials, other special guests, and members of the media.
The center is designed to look like the inside of a hospital room, and students can practice realistic medical scenarios on “high fidelity mannequins.” Some of the mannequins can simulate a pulse, while others are used to simulate various injuries. There are also mannequins at other stations for anatomy as well as intubation practice. Medical equipment inside the center can display blood oxygen levels, blood pressure, and other vital signs.
Inside a control room, NMC staff can role play alongside the students, and monitor the scenario. They can also use audio equipment to “guide students to a desired learning outcome,” Ogumoro-Uludong said.
At the NMC Area Health Education Center, students can “feel more confident, empowered, and be ready to deliver high quality care and respond effectively to the health care needs of our community,” Ogumoro-Uludong added.
Johnny Aldan, an NMC nursing instructor, said while the simulation center will never replace hands-on clinical practice, it can be used to “enhance” the education of the students.
“In Saipan…we don’t have all the cases that we want our students to be exposed to,” Aldan said. “Let’s say I’m lecturing on a cardiovascular disease but then I bring the students to the hospital, and I can’t find the cardiovascular disease I was lecturing on. But now I can bring them back here and set up a simulation of that cardiovascular disease,” he added.
NMC students use a high-fidelity mannequin to simulate a six-year-old patient who has a history of asthma.
Department of Labor Secretary Leila Staffler checks the pulse of a high-fidelity mannequin at the NMC Health Simulation Center.
Johnny Aldan, an instructor at NMC, explains that inside this control room he can monitor students, adjust the vitals of mannequins and more.
