Inside the high-tech lab where fake patients help save real lives

NEW ORLEANS (InvestigateTV) - The patient is struggling to breathe. Monitors are beeping. Medical students are checking lung sounds, reading vital signs and preparing for the next step.

But this is not a real emergency room.

At LSU Health New Orleans, students are training on high-tech medical simulators built to look, feel and respond like people in crisis.

The simulators can speak, breathe, blink, show a pulse and change condition based on what students do next.

The goal is to give future doctors hands-on practice before they face life-or-death moments with real patients.

“Before it used to be you practiced on patients. Now you practice on plastic before you even touch a patient,” said Dr. Peter DeBlieux, assistant dean for LSU Health New Orleans’ Center for Advanced Learning and Simulation.

Behind the scenes, a simulation team controls the patient’s voice, vital signs and medical outcome in real time. If students miss something, the patient can get worse. If they respond correctly, the patient can stabilize.

The training is not limited to medical students. Doctors, nurses and other health professionals also train at the center, often in teams meant to mirror the pace and pressure of a real hospital.

“Since 2000, LSU has invested millions in the space of simulation, not just for medical students and not just for residents in training but also we have practicing physicians across the country that come to do simulation training here,” DeBlieux said.

DeBlieux said the technology has changed dramatically over the past 25 years, moving from basic CPR mannequins to simulators that can connect to ventilators, monitors and other equipment. LSU Health New Orleans says some simulators can cost up to $200,000 each.

“You can create a rare disease and then standardize it so that everyone in the class may not ever see it in a hospital setting or in a clinic setting, but can practice and train in this setting,” DeBlieux said.

The center has also had to rebuild. Its first simulation center opened in 2000, but Hurricane Katrina flooded the facility and destroyed equipment. LSU later rebuilt the center with more space and more advanced technology.

After each scenario, students go through a debrief to review what worked and what did not. Then they do it again.

“This simulator we have, it blinks, it breathes, it talks,” fourth-year medical student Lindzi Paul said. “It was a really good experience.”

Fourth-year medical student Aysha Gibson said the training feels real.

“You really take it personally if you’re able to save this patient or treat this patient properly,” Gibson said.

Gibson said the technology could help shape the future of medical care.

“I think this technology really will help form the next generation of doctors,” Gibson said.

DeBlieux said the benefit extends beyond the classroom.

“So for over 25 years, all of the LSU graduates in New Orleans have benefitted from training in simulation, which means our community has benefitted,” DeBlieux said.

The center plans to add artificial intelligence and virtual reality headsets as it raises money for the next step in medical training.