AUCON’s Tiger Giving Day Project will provide students with realistic training for cardiovascular and respiratory care

Learning to identify normal and abnormal cardiovascular and respiratory sounds is a critically important part of nursing education. A brand-new simulator that incorporates RFID with other cutting-edge technology into a one-of-its-kind manikin will make learning to identify those sounds easier for students in Auburn’s College of Nursing.

                Through Tiger Giving Day on Wednesday, March 25, the College is raising support to provide its students with a Cardiovascular and Respiratory Examinations Trainer, or CaRE Trainer. The first trainer of its kind, the CaRE Trainer will give students the ability to hear and observe replications of heart and lung sounds, as well as lifelike pulses and breathing movements and give realistic presentations of 31 clinical cases.

                “What makes these models unique is their realism. Our students are going to be able to feel things that our current manikins can’t replicate, and they’ll be able to see things that they might not otherwise be able to see until they get out into a clinical setting,” said Kendall Henderson, assistant clinical professor in the College of Nursing. “They can also use their own stethoscopes to hear abnormal sounds and findings that will make them more prepared for patient care.”

                Practicing with manikins like the CaRE Trainer in a lab or classroom setting helps build students’ confidence for what they will see in the clinical setting. The CaRE Trainer has the capacity to replicate 10 different lung sounds and 23 different heart sounds that cover normal, common, and specialist conditions. The Trainer can also replicate symmetrical or asymmetrical chest movements and a varied rate of breathing. The specialized manikin also includes a removable breast module so that it can simulate both a male or female patient.

And because the manikin is only the torso portion instead of a full body, it is portable, making it easy to transport between classroom and skills lab.

                “The purchase of these trainers will provide our students with the tools they need in their early educational journey to become the best nurses they can be by ensuring that they have the most realistic and current training possible,” Henderson said.

To learn more about how you can help Auburn Nursing students receive more realistic cardiovascular and respiratory training on Tiger Giving Day, visit https://aub.ie/26TGDNursing.