Medical students treat dummies that bleed, speak, and die

While there's always the off chance that your next surgery will be completed by a robotic doctor, we'd wager that most of us would opt for a well-trained, well-rested, and naturally conceived expert to handle the tools. The University of Portsmouth is upping the ante on its training facilities for those making the rounds in med school, and doctors-to-be now have access to £135,000 ($266,706) dummies that "bleed, speak, and potentially die" depending on the level of care received. Providing a more realistic practice environment, these lifelike mannequins can also "breathe oxygen, drool, secrete fluids, blink, and even react to drugs injected into their bodies." Aside from being used by students of medicine, social work, and dentistry, police and firefighters will also be able to get their hands dirty, but they'll be forced to treat the creature as a real human, taking notice of their names, biographies, and medical history before picking up that needle. Additionally, users will be able to access the built-in cameras and microphones to "critically appraise performances in real time." So if you're looking for a second opinion, tracking down a recent Portsmouth graduate that trained on these blokes might not be such a bad idea.

[Via Smart Mobs]

[Tim UF @ Dec 7th 2006 10:55AM]

another step closer to the matrix...

[strider_mt2k @ Dec 7th 2006 11:17AM]

I never did trust that Doctor Stupid...

[PJK @ Dec 7th 2006 11:21AM]

I for one welcome our bleeding drooling robot masters!

HAH!

[tiuk @ Dec 7th 2006 11:38AM]

Ohh, I think they used one of these in the conjoined twins episode of Grey's Anatomy.

Shut up, my girlfriend makes me watch it.

[Nick @ Dec 7th 2006 11:45AM]

Theyve had this technology stateside for quite a while... I remember because me and my dad were shooting (photography) the new Heart Center in Columbus, Ohio for the srchitect and we got to watch them perform 'surgery' on one... It's creepy as sin, it blinks, moves its lips, talks, bleeds... But it isnt new.

[SAGExSDX @ Dec 7th 2006 11:53AM]

i can just picture them getting operated on and then all of a sudden, turning their necks, looking the student straight in the eyes, and then commencing with the grabbing and the choking of my neck. *shudder*

[Scott @ Dec 7th 2006 11:53AM]

I work for a School of Medicine in Southern California, and we've got a whole lab of these dummies. Here's a link to an info page about our Medical Simulation Center.
http://www.llu.edu/llu/medicine/education/msc.html

[kiki @ Dec 7th 2006 11:59AM]

they actually already have those in american medical schools

[Captain Lumpy Dog @ Dec 7th 2006 1:45PM]

But do they sue?

[Cody @ Dec 7th 2006 2:09PM]

I'm a med student at the University of Arizona, and we have one. Pretty cool stuff. Here's the link http://www.astec.arizona.edu/

[Will @ Dec 7th 2006 3:54PM]

I trained in London and have been using dummies like this since the late 90s! This is not new...

[c @ Dec 7th 2006 6:12PM]

I'm a med student at Penn State College of Medicine in Hershey, PA. We have many rooms filled with those. In fact, we have many different kinds of models and robots and can practice basically any medical procedure on them. I think we've had them for quite a while... this is nothing new.

[Brett Kelley @ Dec 8th 2006 10:52AM]

A RealDoll is cheaper, yes?

[z20let @ Dec 9th 2006 1:15PM]

I used to go to the University of Portsmouth and I still live in the area, so saw about this on the local news. Seems pretty interesting. My other half who is a training nurse was impressed too.