300-pound bariatric manikin teaches Carlisle students how to handle obese patients
It will be weeks before Barry A. Tric reaches its full potential as a classroom heavyweight among Carlisle High School juniors and seniors.
Tipping the scale at about 300 pounds, the lessons learned from this bariatric manikin will weigh in more toward the end of the second marking period. Manikins are jointed mannequins often used to help in health care training.
"It allows our health services students to practice the safe handling, positioning and treatment of larger patients, a scenario they will increasingly encounter in the real world," said Albert Parrillo, director of the school's Center for Careers and Technology.
"By using this specialized tool, students gain confidence in performing critical tasks such as patient transfers, wound care and emergency interventions tailored to individuals with higher body mass," he said.
Every career track within the center has an occupational advisory committee of industry experts who advise Parrillo and his staff on what changes are necessary in equipment and curriculum to keep instruction relevant.
Last school year, committee members recommended the center acquire a bariatric manikin to better prepare students for the health care field. Parrillo placed an order with Realityworks of Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
Depicted as an obese male, the manikin cost the district almost $9,000 and arrived in Carlisle in June, said Tara Brenner, health careers program instructor at Carlisle High School.
Since then, she has been working to incorporate the manikin into the curriculum, which includes the courses Medical Terminology and Procedures I and II. Given the name Barry A. Tric, it has been a topic of classroom discussions.
An important lesson for students is how workers can avoid spinal and joint injuries by learning the body mechanics of providing safe patient care, Brenner said. "Having a bariatric simulator makes it more real since the simulator can't assist."
She said such skills are necessary when deciding when and how to use a mechanical lift to transfer a larger patient from a bed to a wheelchair and back again. The same principles apply when shifting a patient from lying in bed to a seated position or rolling the patient for bathing or to change linens.
Students will also need to practice helping a patient put on a hospital gown, slippers and compression socks, Brenner said. As part of their training, students will use Barry to gauge how to size a bed frame, wheelchair, toilet seat, walker and blood pressure cuff.
"Using simulators is a component of hands-on learning," she said. "Simulators reproduce conditions and situations that may be seen in a patient care setting."
Prior to Barry's arrival, her students were using a manikin named Sally to learn about geriatric patients and a manikin named Stephanie to learn about head trauma.
Designed with a fleshlike outer coating, Barry has body mass and folds of soft tissue in the chest and torso. As part of the training, students will learn the warning signs of potential bed sores and skin rashes that go with obesity.
"Barry gives them a picture of the critical thinking and problem solving that is going to go into that patient and the care that they need," Brenner said. "They can practice specific skills to be confident before using those skills on actual individuals."
Most of her students, upon graduation, could apply for work in a hospital or nursing home setting as a patient care technician, Brenner said. She said the course provides a foundation for a career as a certified nursing assistant.
About 85% of Carlisle High School students enrolled in health services plan to pursue post-secondary education or training in such fields as diagnostic imagining, nursing, radiology and phlebotomy, Brenner said. "There are several students who plan to go on to do pre-med."
Others can use the coursework to pursue careers as emergency medical technicians and paramedics, she said.
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