St. Luke’s building birthing simulation center

CEDAR RAPIDS - A lot can go wrong during labor.

The mother can have a seizure if she has pre-eclampsia, which causes dangerously high blood pressure. The baby can get stuck due to shoulder dystocia. There can be hemorrhaging. The baby can have an abnormal heart rhythm and need a chest tube.

'Not everything always goes smoothly when you have a baby,” said Debra Johnston, an advanced practice nurse at UnityPoint Health-St. Luke's Hospital in Cedar Rapids. 'We want staff to be able to care for babies and moms and have the best outcome.”

One of the ways St. Luke's can prepare staff for these situations is through simulations, which offer hands-on training. And soon, the hospital's birth center is to be equipped with a dedicated area for simulation training and education.

The center features a patient room designed to look like an actual hospital room; an observational control room for instructors to operate the simulation; and classroom space for debriefing discussions. It is to be used to train nurses and staff that work in the Birth Care Center and pediatrics unit.

Currently, Johnston and others use empty patient rooms to run simulations. But that's not ideal, she said, because when the birth center is busy, beds are needed for patients.

'We want (the care team) to be in a real environment. If they put themselves in that situation they can respond better, more instinctively,” she said.

The $100,000 Education and Simulation Center is to be built in the former gift shop space on the first floor of St. Luke's Women's and Children's Center.

Construction is expected to begin early next year and take six weeks to complete. Variety - the Children's Charity contributed a $60,000 grant to the project while St. Luke's Foundation is raising the other $40,000 through its Children's Fundraising Initiative. Last year, Variety awarded the hospital a grant to purchase Victoria, a maternal birthing simulator. Johnston said the simulator is tetherless - so it doesn't need chords or wires like an older model - and has elastic skin for a more lifelike touch and feel.

Each department goes through at least two simulations a year, Johnston said, so they can be better prepared and more comfortable in dealing with high-risk, tense situations.

'That way, we can save more lives,” she said.

The simulations also allow the staff to learn better communication, critical thinking and practice as a care team. Afterward, teams watch video of the simulation and discuss what went well and what could work better next time.