University of Greenwich: Representative manikins improve student learning

Through work with Lifecast Body Simulation, Charles Everard and Lee Jagodzinski have helped develop a range of culturally inclusive simulation manikins to ensure students have an opportunity to interact with manikins that have a personality, including previous medical history, ethnic and cultural identities.Manikin

Charles Everard (Head of Faculty Learning and Support & GLASC Technical Director) and Lee Jagodzinski (Academic Lead for Simulation) led the project.

Charles said:

“Traditionally, simulation manikins have been generic in appearance, and therefore not representing the full spectrum of individuality in our society today,”

Lee said:

“Hopefully this sets the trend for other manufacturers to think about the way they address product lines.

“We wanted to teach our nursing students with manikins which had cultural and diverse backgrounds similar to those we see every day in our clinical practise, so we started by thinking about the students and staff of our university, who would they best relate to, and who would they care about?

“We believe that care skills can be enhanced with added layers of realism, and at this time we want to reflect the health of realism people who our students may meet.”

Charles continued:

“The team at Lifecast “copy” real people to make their manikins and we felt comfortable that the bodies we ordered wouldn’t just be a white person painted brown. They would have realistic facial features and body adaptions that would tell a story.

“Our aim was to stimulate discussion about cultural expectations and contextualise the simulation, for example the manikin may not be a native English speaker for some of the scenarios, requiring them to deliver care via an interpreter.”

Lee concluded:

“We want our manikins to be a starting point for awareness and discussion about the health inequalities around the world. And we encourage our students to research the way that our cultures and upbringing affect our health.

“Adding cultural and global awareness to our manikins will we hope help them when nursing, overcoming bias and creating greater empathy.”