Manikins set to hone rural health professionals' skills

Published on Thursday 16 April 2009 22:02

THEY can talk, breathe, cry and even cough. A new generation of lifelike manikins are set to hone the skills of health service professionals working in Scotland's remotest rural areas, it was revealed yesterday.

The medical manikins will form an integral part of a new mobile clinical skills unit which is about to set out on a tour of some of the country's remotest regions in a two-year initiative being funded by NHS Education for Scotland.

The unit, unveiled in Aberdeen yesterday, is aimed at providing health professionals in remote and rural areas with vital training which is otherwise only available in Scotland's main urban centres.

It has been developed as part of the government's new clinical skills strategy, launched by health secretary Nicola Sturgeon in September 2007.

Jerry Morse, clinical skills manager at Aberdeen University's School of Medicine and Dentistry, said the new outreach unit, including the manikins, would enable health professionals to practise a range of skills. The manikins could be programmed to respond realistically to procedures such as taking blood, inserting catheters and airway management.