A new birthing simulator at UNR is ensuring nursing students can continue hands-on training throughout the pandemic.
Lucinda gives birth to her baby Luna multiple times a day, all in the name of science. At a time when students and visitors were prohibited inside hospitals, the life-size, automated mannequin has allowed students at the Orvis School of Nursing to work through scenarios they wouldn't be able to as an observer of a real, live birth.
During simulations, a professor can manufacture emergency scenarious like preeclampsia-induced seizures. The virtual reality feature provides an x-ray view of labor to show, for example, what contractions look like as they're happening.
Assistant professor Shannon Richard runs these trainings.
"This simulation offers us some focus on safety, on communication skills, and on team-working skills that create the best-prepared nurses out there to go ahead and take care of our community," said Richard.
Along with Lucinda, there's a second patient. Once baby Luna is delivered, she can simulate a newborn up to six months old.