Wednesday, February 09, 2000

WILMINGTON, N.C. - The School of Nursing at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington has received a CathSim Intravenous Training System that will help students practice starting an I.V. without actual patient contact. The PC-based CathSim system, manufactured by HT Medical Systems, teaches users both cognitive and motor skills associated with intravenous catheterization.

Ms. Jaca Baynes, director of the nursing school's simulation lab, wrote a grant last summer to the Cape Fear Memorial Foundation, which awarded the university $8,700 to purchase the system. CathSim will be available to current nursing students for practice next month and to incoming students in Nursing 305-Fundamentals of Nursing Skills which Baynes teaches in the fall.

Baynes said this grant and the purchase of the training system are significant because nursing students in this area are usually not permitted to start I.V.'s on an actual patient. Previously, students learned the skill only through textbooks and lectures, without any hands-on experience. Baynes said, "This system allows students the opportunity to try an invasive skill in the most realistic way before actually performing it on a patient."

CathSim is a computer program with an attached accutouch interface device. A typical CathSim case consists of four parts: an overview of the training objectives, a detailed case history, a lesson, and an evaluation. The program walks students through the whole procedure of starting an I.V. First the student selects the patient type, then uses the mouse to simulate patient preparation, from putting on the tourniquet to cleansing the site selected for insertion. When it's time for the actual needle insertion, the student puts the selected needle in through the attached accutouch device. The attachment even allows the student to "feel" the needle passing through the skin and into the vein. If the insertion would hurt a real patient, the patient on the monitor says, "ouch, that hurts." Finally, the student gets an evaluation of how well he or she did on the whole procedure.

CathSim trains students in critical thinking and broadens their experience, as they must make decisions throughout the program based on theory and different "patient" scenarios.

In 1998, the New York Festivals International Interactive Multimedia Awards awarded HT Medical Systems' CathSim a WorldMedal for excellence in an educational interactive program.

"The School of Nursing is grateful to the Cape Fear Memorial Foundation for this grant that will help us educate well-trained and very capable nurses," said Baynes.

For more information on the system or to arrange a demonstration, contact Baynes at 962-3206.